Jesus
in his teaching emphasised the importance of baptism for salvation. Without baptism was there any other way of
getting into heaven? From an early date
the Church recognised that adults who had died without baptism could be
saved. There was such a thing as
‘Baptism by desire’. If, through no
fault of their own, people didn’t know about Christ or about the importance of
the Sacrament of Baptism they could still be saved. If they loved God and wished to do whatever
God wished of them then they were regarded as having Baptism by desire. They would gladly have received the Sacrament
of Baptism if they had known about it.
There
was also ‘Baptism by blood’. In the persecutions
of the early Church some people were martyred who were not baptised. They were being instructed in the faith. The Holy Innocents – the infants put to death
by King Herod – had obviously not been baptised. But they – and the unbaptised adults being in
the Christian faith – were regarded as having received Baptism by blood. But in the case of infants, Baptism by desire
would not be possible and Baptism by blood would be extremely rare. So if they died without the Sacrament of
Baptism, what then?
St
Bernard (+1150 AD) and many others taught that they could be saved by the faith
of their parents or other people. On the
other hand, St Augustine of Hippo (+450 AD) and many theologians who followed his thinking held that such infants were
excluded from heaven and even suffered some slight pain. But the great majority of theologians taught
that in their case there was no ‘pain of sense’ but they could not get to
heaven. Instead they would enjoy a state
of natural happiness in Limbo – a name which literally means ‘on the fringe.’
St
Thomas Aquinas, perhaps the greatest theologian in the history of the Church,
said that these infants would not grieve over not seeing God, any more than a
bird would grieve because it cannot be an emperor or a king: ‘Nay, they rejoice
because they share in God’s goodness and in many natural perfections.’ This became the accepted teaching of the
Church. Unbaptised infants achieve a
state of natural happiness in eternal life, but not supernatural happiness
which consists in seeing God face to face.
They would know and love God by the use of their natural powers but
would not possess the Beatific Vision.
The
existence of the Limbo of Infants has never been defined by the Church and the
concept has now been abandoned. It was
never a dogma of the Church but was a very strongly held theological
opinion. It does not feature in the new
Catechism of the Catholic Church. There
was an important Papal Document on the issue in April 2007 when Pope Emeritus
Benedict XVI ‘closed Limbo.’ This
document stresses the fundamental biblical doctrine that God wills to save all
people through the victory of Jesus Christ over sin and death. Christ is the first born of all creation. That means that we human beings get our full
identity and dignity from our relationship with the Risen Christ, rather than
from our relationship with fallen Adam.
St Paul teaches us that Christ’s ‘act of righteousness leads to
justification and life for all’. (Romans 5:19) and ‘where sin abounded there
grace abounded all the more’. Christ’s
grace is so much more powerful than human sin.
The family of God is one in which ‘everyone is a firstborn child’.
(Hebrews 12:23)
The
papal document says that world events stimulated fresh reflection on the
question. Even the many reasons for
despair have led the Church to appreciate more deeply the hope that is central
to the gospel. Greater awareness of the
world’s pain raises more keenly the question of God’s mercy. God’s grace and providence reaches all
people. God does not demand the
impossible and God’s power is not restricted to the Sacraments. At all times and in all circumstances God
provides a remedy of salvation for humanity.
The document refers to Mary who received the grace of salvation – before
the coming of Christ – and was preserved from all stain of sin from the first
moment of her existence in the Immaculate Conception. Pope Benedict was using this as an example of
how God can find ways other than sacramental baptism to give the grace of
salvation to infants. The document says
that a major weakness in the traditional view of Limbo was that ‘its
Christocentricity seems deficient’ – it did not emphasise sufficiently the love
and power of Christ to share his victory and glory with his brothers and
sisters. As Paul says: ‘In Christ all
people shall be made alive.’ When we are
called into being, we are simultaneously called by God to eternal life and
supernatural happiness. Why would God so
differentiate between his baptised and unbaptised children in the way the
traditional teaching would have us believe?
So many parents went through added anguish as a result – and often the
child’s burial was in unconsecrated ground!
Thank you Benedict for closing this chapter.
Text
Available online: ‘The Hope of Salvation for Infants who die without being
Baptised.’
