Limbo an object of much concern

By Msgr. Pedro Lopez-Gallo

My previous article about limbo caused a plethora of questions, phone calls, and letters. I never imagined that the subject could create such concern in so many people.

From the numerous queries, I chose to answer one which touched my heart. A lady wrote: "Father, I had three stillborn children who, of course, were unbaptized. Over the years, I always had a feeling of remorse and guilt, a real "hell," knowing that they were in a horrible place, away from the sight of God.

"You cannot imagine the nights I cried thinking that even in heaven, where I hope to go, I would not see them, not enjoy my own children who, innocent, will for all eternity be separated from God and not have the benefit of the beatific vision.

"When I read the news from the Vatican that the Pope had abolished it, that limbo did not exist, I was overjoyed, but now I read in your article that the Pope has not made any declaration. Can you explain this blatant contradiction?"

Dear reader, it was not my intention to trouble your mind at all. What I stated in my article was that the Holy Father had not issued any declaration about limbo, he had only allowed the conclusions of the Pontifical Theological Commission to be published; no more, no less.

Let me explain what this Commission is, from when it originated, and what is contained in the document. The International Theological Commission was instituted in 1969 by Pope Paul VI as a body of theologians charged with advising the Pope on doctrinal issues.

Since then, the Commission has worked under four Popes: Paul VI, John Paul I, who, given the brevity of his pontificate (33 days) did not have time to look at it, and John Paul II. In 1979 Pope John Paul said to the members of the commission, "Not only are you expert investigators in the field of theology, but the supreme authority of the Church has called upon you to help the magisterium, especially the Roman Pontiff and the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith."

It is well known that before Cardinal Ratzinger was elected Pope Benedict XVI, he had been the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, from 1981 until 2005. He was, therefore, following the processes of the commission for over 20 years. In allowing the publication of their conclusions, the Holy Father did not take an "ex abrupto," but father a well-considered decision.

The text of the commission is titled, The Hope of Salvation for Infants Who Die Without Being Baptized. In it, the commission traces the history of the theological debate on the fate of unbaptized infants and presents a new viewpoint of the Church regarding the salvific will of God, Who wants all to be saved. It ends with consideration of the increasing number of aborted children.

It was initially taught, says the text, that limbo was "understood as a state which includes the souls of infants who die subject to original sin and without baptism and who therefore neither merit the beatific vision nor yet are subjected to any punishment because they are not guilty of any personal sin."

This theory, elaborated by theologians in the middle ages, never entered into the dogmatic definitions of the magisterium and, until Vatican II, it remained merely a possible theological hypothesis.

However, in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the theory of limbo is not mentioned. Rather, the catechism teaches that infants who die without baptism are entrusted by the Church to the mercy of God, as is shown in the specific funeral rite for such children. The principle that God desires the salvation of all people gives rise to the hope that there is a path to salvation for such infants (Catechism 1261).

The conclusion of the commission is that there are theological and liturgical reasons to hope that infants who die unbaptized may be saved and brought into eternal happiness even if there is not an explicit teaching on this question found in revelation.

There are reasons to hope that God will save these infants precisely because it was not possible to do for them that what would have been most desirable, to baptize them in the faith of the Church and incorporate them visibly into the Body of Christ.

When the question of infants who die without baptism was first taken up in the history of Christian thought, it is possible that the doctrinal nature of the question or its implications were not fully understood.

Only when seen in light of the historical development of theology over the course of time, as Vatican II did, does this specific question find its proper context within Catholic doctrine (Unitatis Redintegratio, No. 11), and the topic "can be recognized explicitly under the global horizon of the faith of the Church."

It is impossible to quote the 41 pages of so learned a document. It warns, however, that the commission did not intend to deny the need for baptism or to delay its conferral.

To my saddened reader, let me say that I have religious hope that the Divine Mercy has given the beatific vision to your children. This is a great consolation.

Msgr. Lopez-Gallo's columns are available in two volumes for $20 each from St. Andrew's Church Supply, 305 W. 8 Ave. in Vancouver, toll-free 1-800-663-7161. Proceeds will go to Hogar de Nazareth Orphanage in Mexico, which he sponsors.