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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hi</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>What is everyone's take on the new Limbo
story?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Original article at <A
href="http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0702216.htm">http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0702216.htm</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#000080 size=2><EM>VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- After
several years of study, the Vatican's International Theological Commission said
there are good reasons to hope that babies who die without being baptized go to
heaven.<BR><BR>In a document published April 20, the commission said the
traditional concept of limbo -- as a place where unbaptized infants spend
eternity but without communion with God -- seemed to reflect an "unduly
restrictive view of salvation."</EM></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#000080 size=2><EM></EM></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#000080 size=2><EM>...</EM></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#000080 size=2><EM></EM></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><EM><FONT color=#000080><FONT face=Arial size=2> The 41-page document,
titled "The Hope of Salvation for Infants Who Die Without Being Baptized," was
published in Origins, the documentary service of </FONT><FONT face=Arial
size=2>Catholic News Service</FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2>. Pope Benedict XVI
authorized its publication earlier this year.</FONT></FONT></EM></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Why was the document published by the USCCB in a
place where only those with a paid subscription can get at it? I don't
think that's normal Vatican practice.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>To what extent do you guys think this is a definite
part of Tradition that Pope Benedict cannot remove? Sure, none of this has
been official magisterial teaching, but Evangelium Vitae is, and comes close to
indicating that aborted babies may be with God (the original stated as
much.) And if salvation is possible for "who through no fault of their own
do not know the Gospel of Christ or His Church" [Vatican II, LG16], does that
limit that salvation to Limbo too? If not, why are babies limited to
limbo? (What I'm not concerned about is the necessity of baptism, which I
believe. What I am concerned about is the effect on Tradition, doctrine,
dogma, infallibility, papal heresy, </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I've read Fr Kimel's series on Limbo
here - <A
href="http://catholica.pontifications.net/?page_id=2025">http://catholica.pontifications.net/?page_id=2025</A>
- and James Akin - <A
href="http://jimmyakin.typepad.com/defensor_fidei/2006/10/limbo_in_limbo.html">http://jimmyakin.typepad.com/defensor_fidei/2006/10/limbo_in_limbo.html</A>
- which predate this excitement, and which make the most sense to me, but
I'd like your take on the following (some are not directly addressing unbaptised
infants, but there's no reason to exclude them from the issue
discussed):</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><STRONG>Babies go to hell:</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Ecumenical Council of Florence, Cantate Domino,
1442:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Regarding children, indeed, because of danger of
death, which can often take place, since no help can be brought to them by
another remedy than through the sacrament of baptism, through which they are
snatched from the domination of the devil and adopted among the sons of God,
[the sacrosanct Roman Church] advises that holy baptism ought not to be deferred
for forty or eighty days, ... but it should be conferred as soon as it can be
done conveniently</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Ecumenical Council of Florence, Decree to the
Armenians:</FONT></DIV></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The souls of those who die in mortal sin or with
only original sin soon go down into hell, but there they receive different
punishments.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>St Anselm:<BR>“For they even receive everlasting
torments, who never sinned by their own will. And hence it is written, ‘Even the
infant of a single day is not pure in His sight upon earth.’”</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>St Augustine, On the soul and it's
origin:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Let no one promise infants who have not been
baptized a sort of middle place of happiness between damnation and Heaven, for
this is what the Pelagian heresy promised them.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>St Augustine, Epistle to Jerome:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Anyone who would say that even infants who pass
from this life without participation in the Sacrament of Baptism shall be made
alive in Christ goes counter to the preaching of the Apostle and condemns the
whole Church, because it is believed without doubt that there is no other way at
all in which they can be made alive in Christ.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><STRONG>Babies go to Limbo:</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Synod of Carthage, 418 AD:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>It has been decided likewise that if anyone says
that for this reason the Lord said: “In my house there are many mansions”: that
it might be understood that in the kingdom of heaven there will be some middle
place or some place anywhere where happy infants live who departed from this
life without baptism, without which they cannot enter into the kingdom of
heaven, which is life eternal, let him be anathema. For when the Lord says:
“Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he shall not enter into
the kingdom of God” [John 3:5], what Catholic will doubt that he will be a
partner of the devil who has not deserved to be a coheir of Christ? For he who
lacks the right part will without doubt run into the left [cf. Matt.
25:41,46].</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Pope Pius XII, Address to Italian
Midwives:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>If what We have said up to now concerns the
protection and care of natural life, much more so must it concern the
supernatural life, which the newly born receives with Baptism. In the present
economy there is no other way to communicate that life to the child who has not
attained the use of reason. Above all, the state of grace is absolutely
necessary at the moment of death. Without it salvation and supernatural
happiness—the beatific vision of God—are impossible. An act of love is
sufficient for the adult to obtain sanctifying grace and to supply the lack of
baptism; to the still unborn or newly born this way is not open. . . . so it is
easy to understand the great importance of providing for the baptism of the
child deprived of complete reason who finds himself in grave danger or at
death's threshold.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Fr Brian Harrison, Could Limbo Be 'Abolished'?,
</FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2><A
href="http://www.seattlecatholic.com/a051207.html">http://www.seattlecatholic.com/a051207.html</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>It should be clear from the above survey of
relevant Catholic magisterial statements that those who now talk about Limbo as
only ever having been a mere "hypothesis", rather than a doctrine, are giving a
very misleading impression of the state of the question. They are implying by
this that the pre-Vatican II Church traditionally held, or at least implicitly
admitted, that an alternate 'hypothesis' for unbaptized infants was their
attainment of eternal salvation — Heaven. Nothing could be further from the
truth. Limbo for unbaptized infants was indeed a theological "hypothesis"; but
the only approved alternate hypothesis was not Heaven, but very mild hellfire as
well as exclusion from the beatific vision! In short, while Limbo as distinct
from very mild hellfire was a 'hypothetical' destiny for unbaptized infants,
their eternal exclusion from Heaven (with or without any 'pain of sense') — at
least after the proclamation of the Gospel, and apart from the 'baptism of
blood' of infants slaughtered out of hatred for Christ — this was traditional
Catholic doctrine, not a mere hypothesis. No, it was never dogmatically defined.
But the only question is whether the doctrine was infallible by virtue of the
universal and ordinary magisterium, or merely "authentic".</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>St. Thomas Aquinas, De malo q. 5. a. 3. ad
4:<BR>"The infants are separated from God perpetually in regard to the loss of
glory, which they do not know, but not in regard to participation in natural
goods, which they do know. . . . That which they have through nature. . they
possess without pain."</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><STRONG>Babies go to Limbo or
heaven:</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>St. Thomas Aquinas (the quote is compatible with
both heaven and limbo; his actual position was that they go to
limbo):</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>"Children while in the mother's womb have not yet
come forth into the world to live among other men. Consequently they cannot be
subject to the action of man, so as to receive the sacrament, at the hands of
man, unto salvation. They can, however, be subject to the action of God, in
whose sight they live, so as, by a kind of privilege, to receive the grace of
sanctification."</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>CCC 1261:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>“As regards children who have died 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”</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>CCC 1257:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>“God has bound salvation to the sacrament of
Baptism, but he himself is not bound by his sacraments”</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Vatican II, Lumen Gentium 16:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Nor is God far distant from those who in shadows
and images seek the unknown God, for it is He who gives to all men life and
breath and all things, and as Saviour wills that all men be saved. Those also
can attain to salvation who through no fault of their own do not know the Gospel
of Christ or His Church, yet sincerely seek God and moved by grace strive by
their deeds to do His will as it is known to them through the dictates of
conscience.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Pius IX, Quanto conficiamur moerore, 1863:<BR>"God.
. . in His supreme goodness and clemency, by no means allows anyone to be
punished with eternal punishments who does not have the guilt of voluntary
fault."</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><STRONG>Babies go to heaven:</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Pope John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae (<A
href="http://www.vatican.va/edocs/ENG0141/__P10.HTM">first
version</A>):</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I would now like to say a special word to women who
have had an abortion. The Church is aware of the many factors which may have
influenced your decision, and she does not doubt that in many cases it was a
painful and even shattering decision. The wound in your heart may not yet have
healed. Certainly what happened was and remains terribly wrong. But do not give
in to discouragement and do not lose hope. Try rather to understand what
happened and face it honestly. If you have not already done so, give yourselves
over with humility and trust to repentance. The Father of mercies is ready to
give you his forgiveness and his peace in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. You
will come to understand that nothing is definitively lost and you will also be
able to ask forgiveness from your child, who is now living in the
Lord.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Pope
John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae (<A
href="http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_25031995_evangelium-vitae_en.html">second
version</A> after the Limbo issue was apparently pointed out to him):</FONT>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I would now like to say a special word to women who
have had an abortion. The Church is aware of the many factors which may have
influenced your decision, and she does not doubt that in many cases it was a
painful and even shattering decision. The wound in your heart may not yet have
healed. Certainly what happened was and remains terribly wrong. But do not give
in to discouragement and do not lose hope. Try rather to understand what
happened and face it honestly. If you have not already done so, give yourselves
over with humility and trust to repentance. The Father of mercies is ready to
give you his forgiveness and his peace in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. To
the same Father and his mercy you can with sure hope entrust your
child.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Pope Benedict XVI (as Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger),
The Ratzinger Report, pp. 147-148:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Limbo was never a defined truth of faith.
Personally—and here I am speaking more as a theologian and not as Prefect of the
Congregation—I would abandon it since it was only a theological hypothesis. It
formed part of a secondary thesis in support of a truth which is absolutely of
first significance for faith, namely, the importance of baptism. To put it in
the words of Jesus to Nicodemus: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born
of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God” (Jn 3:5). One
should not hesitate to give up the idea of “limbo” if need be (and it is worth
noting that the very theologians who proposed “limbo” also said that parents
could spare the child limbo by desiring its baptism and through prayer); but the
concern behind it must not be surrendered. Baptism has never been a side issue
for faith; it is not now, nor will it ever be.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Pope Benedict XVI (as Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger),
God and the World, pp. 401-402:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The question of what it means to say that baptism
is necessary for salvation has become ever more hotly debated in modern times.
The Second Vatican Council said on this point that men who are seeking for God
and who are inwardly striving toward that which constitutes baptism will also
receive salvation. That is to say that a seeking after God already represents an
inward participation in baptism, in the Church, in Christ. To that extent, the
question concerning the necessity of baptism for salvation seems to have been
answered, but the question about children who could not be baptized because they
were aborted then presses upon us that much more urgently. Earlier ages had
devised a teaching that seems to me rather unenlightened. They said that baptism
endows us, by means of sanctifying grace, with the capacity to gaze upon God.
Now, certainly, the state of original sin, from which we are freed by baptism,
consists in a lack of sanctifying grace. Children who die in this way are indeed
without any personal sin, so they cannot be sent to hell, but, on the other
hand, they lack sanctifying grace and thus the potential for beholding God that
this bestows. They will simply enjoy a state of natural blessedness, in which
they will be happy. This state people called limbo. In the course of our
century, that has gradually come to seem problematic to us. This was one way in
which people sought to justify the necessity of baptizing infants as early as
possible, but the solution is itself questionable. Finally, the Pope [John Paul
II] made a decisive turn in the encyclical Evangelium Vitae, a change already
anticipated by the Catechism of the Catholic Church, when he expressed the
simple hope that God is powerful enough to draw to himself all those who were
unable to receive the sacrament.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Lastly:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>A blog post by a Catholic apologist at <A
href="http://billcork.wordpress.com/2007/04/21/more-on-limbo/">http://billcork.wordpress.com/2007/04/21/more-on-limbo/</A> -
this is what got me looking, and got me disturbed:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#008000 size=2>This discussion raises a question
that we must put bluntly–is Tradition authoritative for Catholics or not? When
certain Catholic apologists want to argue with Protestants they defend
Tradition; when they can’t support a teaching by citing Scripture, they fall
back on Tradition. They can never quite define what this “Tradition” is, or
where to find it, however. Used in this way, it is a deus ex machina that is
dropped to defend any Catholic teaching that is either not proven from Scripture
or that seems to contradict Scripture.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#008000></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#008000 size=2>Regardless of how you might define
“Tradition,” it seems plain that Limbo was taught consistently for centuries by
that Tradition. Now by a wave of the hand it becomes merely a
“hypothesis.”</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#008000></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#008000 size=2>What about other Traditional
teachings? Can they disappear at the wave of the hand and become mere
“hypotheses”? Why or why not? Is it merely papal authority that makes or breaks
doctrine, that creates it or knocks it down, includes it or excludes it from
Tradition? Is papal authority thus a form of legal positivism?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Thanks!</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Stephen</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>
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