According to the Associated Press and Reuters, Pope Benedict XVI has reversed centuries of Roman Catholic teaching on limbo, approving a Vatican report that says there are serious grounds for hoping that children who die without being baptized can go to heaven. A Catholic theologian also said the document has potential positive implications for non-Christians, since it could be seen as suggesting that unbaptized adults could go to heaven if they led good lives.
The church's International Theological Commission said limbo reflects an "unduly restrictive view of salvation."
Teaching about limbo was omitted from the revised Catechism in 1994, according to Father James Glass, an American priest. So, from his point of view, the demise of limbo is about 13-year-old news.
The Catholic Church teaches that children are born inheriting Adam's original sin. This, in essence, is why Catholics baptize infants. But for centuries this has raised the question of what happens to infants who die at birth or before baptism can be administered. It had been believed that these infants could not go to heaven. So heretofore, the church taught that these children go to a place called limbo, a place of eternal happiness, but not to heaven and communion with God.
Pope Benedict reportedly expressed doubts about limbo even before his exaltation to the papacy. His currently approved document is entitled, The Hope of Salvation for Infants Who Die Without Being Baptized. The document says, in part, "The conclusion of this study is that there are theological and liturgical reasons to hope that infants who die without baptism may be saved and brought into eternal happiness even if there is not an explicit teaching on this question found in revelation."
It continues, "There are reasons to hope that God will save these infants precisely because it was not possible (to baptize them)." The 1994 catechism says in regard to children who die without baptism: "the Church can only entrust them to the mercy of God, as she does in her funeral rites for them. Indeed, the great mercy of God who desires that all men should be saved, and Jesus' tenderness toward children which caused him to say: 'Let the children come to me, do not hinder them' allow us to hope that there is a way of salvation for children who have died without baptism. All the more urgent is the Church's call not to prevent little children coming to Christ through the gift of holy baptism."
Catholic leaders are quick to explain that teaching about limbo never was an "infallible church doctrine or official dogma," but merely a "widely held theological opinion." Interestingly, the Catholic Encyclopedia acknowledges there never was any biblical revelation about limbo. "The New Testament contains no definite statement of a positive kind regarding the lot of those who die in original sin without being burdened with grievous personal guilt. But, by insisting on the absolute necessity of being "born again of water and the Holy Ghost" (John 3:5) for entry into the kingdom of Heaven, Christ clearly enough implies that men are born into this world in a state of sin, and St. Paul's teaching to the same effect is quite explicit (Romans 5:12 sqq.). On the other hand, it is clear from Scripture and Catholic tradition that the means of regeneration provided for this life do not remain available after death, so that those dying unregenerate are eternally excluded from the supernatural happiness ... The question therefore arises as to what, in the absence of a clear positive revelation on the subject, we ought in conformity with Catholic principles to believe regarding the eternal lot of such persons." (emph. mine - rb)
Now it may confidently be said that, as the result of centuries of speculation on the subject, we ought to believe that these souls enjoy and will eternally enjoy a state of perfect natural happiness; and this is what Catholics usually mean when they speak of the limbus infantium, the children's limbo.
Can a person be saved without baptism?
If infants are born in sin, and if an infant dies without being baptized for the remission of his/her sins, and there is no limbo, does this mean that new Catholic thought says that baptism isn't important or necessary for salvation? One might assume that.
However, the recent Catholic document stresses that we should not reach that conclusion. The same document also says the church isn't questioning its stand on original sin either. The new position appears to affirm that Catholics don't have an answer to this dilemma, created by the doctrine of original sin, but they will simply trust the Lord to deal with the issue.
Catholics don't see original sin as being as devastating as do Calvinists, who affirm babies are born morally depraved. Catholics divide sin into more- or less-damning categories.
Language not very reassuring.
Limbo is not considered a Catholic doctrine, at least in their specialized use of the term. The church simply has taught that Catholics ought to believe in limbo. Now they say they shouldn't.
The Rev. Richard McBrien, professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame, described the new limbo in which his church now finds itself. He said, "If there's no limbo, and we're not going to revert to St. Augustine's teaching that unbaptized infants go to hell, we're left with only one option--namely, that everyone is born in a state of grace."
The report concludes that no one can know for sure what becomes of unbaptized babies since Scripture is largely silent about the matter. However, it also says the new conclusion contains "reasons for prayerful hope, rather than grounds for sure knowledge."
It also is interesting that Catholic leaders now admit forthrightly that limbo was speculation, theological supposition, or only a theological hypothesis.
Since the new declaration does not carry the authority of a papal encyclical, or even the weight of a formal document from the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, it seems clear the church could change its view again in the future.
What caused the change in view?
The most recent document explains that the change in view was precipitated by several things. "People find it increasingly difficult to accept that God is just and merciful if he excludes infants, who have no personal sins, from eternal happiness, whether they are Christian or non-Christian," the document says.
It also noted the changes were prompted because "the number of non-baptized infants has grown considerably, and therefore the reflection on the possibility of salvation for these infants has become urgent."
Other reports said Pope Benedict approved the new findings after reassessing traditional teaching on limbo in light of pressing pastoral needs--primarily the growing number of abortions and infants who die without being baptized after being born to non-believers.
An analysis.
The Catholic Church needs to be commended for its acknowledgement that there is no Scriptural basis for limbo and that church speculation has been problematic. But the church needs to be admonished about its broader speculations.
Non-biblically based speculations, suppositions, and hypotheses are at the heart of many Catholic errors.
Behind the limbo theory is the original-sin supposition, or the idea that man is born inheriting Adam's sin. Remove that supposition and you remove the necessity for infant baptism, which clearly violates what Scripture teaches. New-Testament examples of baptism demonstrate that it was always preceded by knowledge of the gospel, confessed faith in Christ, and repentance. None of this is possible for an infant.
No wresting of these principles would have occurred, save for the speculation of inherited sin. Thus, if a baby dies, it has no sin for which to account. That baby is safe and not in need of salvation or God's redeeming grace.
Among Protestant sects, Calvinists face the same problem. They believe humans are born in even worse condition--morally depraved and unable to think or do a righteous deed until a point at which God chooses to miraculously imbue them with faith. Under these conceptions, what happens to a baby's soul? At their funerals, most Calvinists preach babies into heaven, but it doesn't agree with their doctrine any better than past and current Catholic speculations.
New Catholic speculations about the possible salvation of non-Christians who live a good life without being baptized, repenting of sins they have committed, or being added to the Lord's body (church), are at least as troublesome as the concepts of limbo and purgatory.
We can pray that thoughtful Catholics begin to understand the violence they do to divine truth when they elevate their traditional speculations to the level of Scripture and apostolic teaching.
It is sad that people who profess belief in the Bible even suggest such teaching. Did you notice that the arguments presented by the Roman Catholic Church are not based on the Scriptures but on men's conclusions? At the very root of the problem with much of what the Roman Catholic Church teaches lies the fact that they resort to the wrong authority.
"Now when He came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching, and said, 'By what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority?" (Matthew 21:22) Good questions that needed a Bible answer then and still do today. According to His own words, Jesus has all authority (Matthew 28:18). To be Scriptural, all things must be done with His authority (Colossians 3:17). God's silence does not authorize anything; nor does men's wisdom or commandments (1 Peter 4:11; Matthew 15:8,9).
God's word clearly teaches that only those who can believe, those who can confess, and those who have sin of which to repent have need of Bible baptism. Additionally, the practice of christening is not taught anywhere in the sacred writ. Children are guilty of no sins, and they have not inherited the sins of Adam or anyone else. "The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself." (Ezekiel 18:20) The Roman Catholic Church would not find itself in the midst of such controversy if it would just accept the teaching of the truth contained in God's word instead of its own past, present, or future religious thinkers.
Such is the inevitable end of all men who seek authority outside the Scriptures. They will be rewarded with controversy, contradiction, and eternal destruction. (KMG)