{"id":15165,"date":"2020-11-24T09:11:08","date_gmt":"2020-11-24T09:11:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onlineclassesguru.com\/index.php\/2020\/11\/24\/unbaptized-infants-2\/"},"modified":"2020-11-24T09:11:08","modified_gmt":"2020-11-24T09:11:08","slug":"unbaptized-infants-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/onlineclassesguru.com\/index.php\/2020\/11\/24\/unbaptized-infants-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Unbaptized Infants"},"content":{"rendered":"<style type=\"text\/css\"><\/style><div class=\"section section-post-header\">\n<div class=\"section_wrapper clearfix\">\n<div class=\"column one post-header\">\n<div class=\"title_wrapper\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"column one single-photo-wrapper image\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"post-wrapper-content\">\n<div class=\"section the_content has_content\">\n<div class=\"section_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"the_content_wrapper\">\n<p>Unbaptized Infants<br \/>\nDemonstrate knowledge of the broad history of Christian thought concerning either infants by summarizing the arguments presented in the class reading<br \/>\nThe author traces the history of Catholic doctrine about the fate of<br \/>\ninfants who die unbaptized: (1) from Augustine\u2019s teaching that they<br \/>\nare condemned to hell where they suffer \u201cthe least of its pains\u201d; (2) to<br \/>\nthe medieval doctrine of Limbo as the state in which those Infants,<br \/>\nalthough excluded from the vision of God, enjoy a natural happiness;<br \/>\n(3) to the consoling words that John Paul II, in Evangelium vitae,<br \/>\naddressed to a woman who had caused her child to be aborted, that<br \/>\nwhen she had repented and was reconciled to God, she could ask<br \/>\nforgiveness from her child who was now \u201cliving in the Lord.\u201d<br \/>\nTHE CATHOLIC CHURCH HAS CONTINUED TO AGREE with Augustine that<br \/>\ninfants, although they seem to be the most innocent of God\u2019s creatures,<br \/>\nare born alienated from God by a guilt they inherit from our first parents;<br \/>\ninfants can be freed from this guilt only through the redeeming grace of<br \/>\nChrist, which they would receive in the sacrament of baptism. However,<br \/>\nthe Church has not continued to hold with Augustine that infants who<br \/>\ndie unbaptized are condemned to hell where they must suffer what he<br \/>\ndescribed as \u201cthe mildest punishment.\u201d^<br \/>\nDuring the twelfth century an important development took place in<br \/>\nCatholic thought regarding the kind of punishment God inflicts on those<br \/>\nwho come before his judgment innocent of any personal sin but still bearing<br \/>\nthe guilt of original sin. Early in that century Anselm of Canterbury^ and<br \/>\nHugh of St. Victor^ still held with Augustine that infants who died<br \/>\nunbaptized would suffer in hell. But later in the same century Peter<br \/>\nFRANCIS A. SULLIVAN, S.J., is professor emeritus of the Gregorian University,<br \/>\nfrom which he earned his S.T.D. His areas of special competence are ecclesiology<br \/>\nand ecumenism. His recent publications include: \u201cInfallibility,\u201d in The Cambridge<br \/>\nCompanion to John Henry Newman, ed. Ian Ker and Terrence Merrigan (2009);<br \/>\nand \u201c\u2018Ecclesial Communities\u2019 and their \u2018Defectos Sacramenti Ordinis\u201d\u2018 Ecumenical<br \/>\nTrends 39.3 (2010). Forthcoming are two articles: \u201cCatholic Tradition and Traditions\u201d;<br \/>\nand \u201cThe Development of Doctrine on the Salvation of the Adherents of<br \/>\nOther Rehgions, in Vatican II and the Postconciliar Magisterium.\u201d<br \/>\n\u2018 Augustine, Enchiridion ad Laurentium c. 93 (PL 40, 275).<br \/>\n^ Anselm of Canterbury, De conceptu virginali et de originali peccato c. 28, in<br \/>\nOpera omnia, 6 vols., ed. F. S. Schmitt (Edinburgh: T. Nelson, 1946-1961) 2:170-71.<br \/>\n^ Hugh of St. Victor, Summa sententiarum, tract. 5, cap. 6 (PL 176,132).<br \/>\nTHEOLOGICAL STUDIES<br \/>\nAbelard proposed that while the alienation from God caused by the guilt of<br \/>\noriginal sin would exclude infants who died unbaptized from the beatific<br \/>\nvision of God, it would deserve no other penalty than that.\u201d The fact that<br \/>\nPeter Lombard introduced this opinion into his Sentences^ guaranteed its<br \/>\nwide adoption among theologians in the 13th century, at the beginning of<br \/>\nwhich it was confirmed by Pope Innocent III who declared in 1201 that the<br \/>\npenalty for original sin is deprivation of the vision of God, while the torments<br \/>\nof hell are suffered by those guilty of actual sin.^ This declaration led<br \/>\nto the conclusion that it was not appropriate to speak of those who did not<br \/>\nsuffer such torments as being in hell, and the term \u201climbo\u201d (from the Latin<br \/>\nlimbus, meaning \u201cfringe\u201d) was adopted as the name of the state for infants<br \/>\nwho died unbaptized. Thomas Aquinas proposed reasons for believing that<br \/>\ninfants in limbo would enjoy a state of natural happiness, and would not be<br \/>\nsaddened by their exclusion from the beatific vision.^<br \/>\nFrom the 13th century on. Catholic theologians commonly taught that<br \/>\nlimbo is the eternal state of infants who die unbaptized, on the grounds of a<br \/>\ntwofold argument: (1) since infants are not capable of the desire for baptism<br \/>\nthat could supply for the lack of the sacrament, the actual reception of<br \/>\nbaptism is the only way they could have been freed from the guilt of original<br \/>\nsin before their death; and (2) while such guilt would exclude them from the<br \/>\nbeatific vision, it merited no other penalty. While this was the common<br \/>\nbelief of the faithful, it never became the official teaching of the Catholic<br \/>\nChurch, even though Pope Pius VI defended this teaching as free of Pelagianism<br \/>\nwhen the Jansenist Synod of Pistoia in 1786 charged it with heresy.^<br \/>\nAt Vatican I a draft of a dogmatic constitution. De doctrina catholica,<br \/>\nincluded the statement: \u201cThose who die with original sin alone will forever<br \/>\nlack the blessed vision of God.\u201d\u2018 This did not become definitive Catholic<br \/>\ndoctrine, since that draft was never voted on by the council. However, it did<br \/>\nshow that some in the drafting commission had wanted the council to rule<br \/>\nout speculation by Catholic theologians about ways that infants who died<br \/>\nunbaptized might be freed from the guilt of original sin and enjoy the vision<br \/>\nof God. As it turned out, such speculation did become quite vigorous 50<br \/>\nyears later, during the first half of the 20th century. In 1954, William Van<br \/>\n\u201c\u2022 Peter Abelard, Commentaria in Epistolam Pauli ad Romanos, liber II {Corpus<br \/>\nChristianorum, Continuatio Mediavaelis 11) 169-70.<br \/>\n^ Peter Lombard, Sententiae, Lib. II, dist. 33, cap. 2.<br \/>\nInnocent III, Maiores ecclesiae causas, letter to Humbert, ArehbishoD of Aries<br \/>\n(DS 780).<br \/>\n^ Thomas Aquinas, In II Sent., d. 33, q. 2, a. 2; De malo q.5, a. 3 4<br \/>\n\u00b0 Pius VI, bull Auctorem fidei (1794) (DS 2626).<br \/>\nVatican I, Schema reformatum constitutionis dogmaticae de doctrina catholica,<br \/>\ncap. 5, no. 6, in Acta et decreta sacrorum conciliorum recentiorum: Collectio lacensis<br \/>\n1 vols. (Freiburg: Herder, 1870-1890) 7:565.<br \/>\nINFANTS WHO DIE UNBAPTIZED 5<br \/>\nRoo, a colleague of mine for many years in the Faculty of Theology of the<br \/>\nGregorian University, published an article entitled \u201cInfants Dying without<br \/>\nBaptism: A Survey of Recent Literature and Determination of the State of<br \/>\nthe Question.\u201d^\u201d His study of what had been written by Catholic theologians<br \/>\nduring the previous 30 years in favor of the opinion that those who<br \/>\ndied as infants could be freed of the guilt of original sin without having<br \/>\nreceived the sacrament of baptism, showed that the solutions offered were<br \/>\nbased on the classic doctrine that the lack of baptism in re could be supplied<br \/>\nby baptism in voto, or by death for Christ, as was recognized in the case of<br \/>\nthe Holy Innocents. Thus, it was proposed that infants might receive an<br \/>\nillumination at the moment of death that would enable them to desire<br \/>\nbaptism, or that the desire of their parents or of the Church that they be<br \/>\nbaptized, would provide the needed votum baptismi. The painful and even<br \/>\nviolent death that many infants suffer was also proposed as supplying for<br \/>\nbaptism. Van Roo concluded his survey of this literature thus:<br \/>\nAs the question stands today, we are in the presence of a common theological<br \/>\nteaching and a conviction which runs through a number of documents of the Church<br \/>\ncontrary to the new positions. This evidence of a common teaching of theologians<br \/>\nand of a sensus Ecclesiae blocks the way to the various solutions seeking salvation<br \/>\nfor the infants dying without baptism. Nor does the recent wave of literature change<br \/>\nthe situation.^\u2019<br \/>\nThe various positions generally have been advanced by their authors with sufficient<br \/>\nprudence and caution, avoiding any affirmations, looking to the Church for a sign of<br \/>\nencouragement. No such sign has been given. . . . Given the present state of the<br \/>\nquestion, then, I would say that one is not free to affirm that all infants are saved, or<br \/>\nthat infants dying without baptism are given a means of salvation other than baptism<br \/>\nin reP\u2019<br \/>\nClearly, in Van Roo\u2019s opinion the arguments proposed in favor of the<br \/>\nsalvation of infants who die without baptism were not convincing enough<br \/>\nto outweigh the common teaching that they would be consigned to limbo.<br \/>\nOn the other hand, he certainly did not share the opinion of another<br \/>\ncolleague at the Gregorian, Sebastian Tromp, who, as secretary of the<br \/>\nTheological Commission in the preparatory phase of Vatican II, drafted<br \/>\na chapter about infants who die unbaptized that was to be included in<br \/>\nthe proposed Schema de deposito fidei pure custodiendo. In his draft<br \/>\nhe rebuked as \u201crash and dangerous\u201d\u2018^ the recent theories proposed by<br \/>\n^\u00b0 William A. Van Roo, S.J., \u201cInfants Dying without Baptism: A Survey of<br \/>\nRecent Literature and Determination of the State of the Question,\u201d Gregorianum 35<br \/>\n(1954) 406-73.<br \/>\n\u20181 Ibid. 472. \u2018^ Ibid. 473.<br \/>\n\u201d See Giuseppe Alberigo and Joseph A. Komonchak, eds.. History of Vatican II,<br \/>\n5 vols. (MaryknoU, N.Y.: Orbis, 1995-2006) 1:245.<br \/>\n6 THEOLOGICAL STUDIES<br \/>\nCatholic theologians to explain how such infants could be saved without<br \/>\nbaptism, and he insisted that the doctrine excluding such infants from<br \/>\nsalvation was taught definitively by the ordinary universal magisterium.^\u2019*<br \/>\nTromp\u2019s chapter on this question was dropped from the schema de deposito<br \/>\nfidei because it was approved by only a minority of the Central Preparatory<br \/>\nCommission.^^ The question about the salvation of infants who die<br \/>\nunbaptized is not mentioned in any of the documents of Vatican II. On<br \/>\nthe other hand, the theologians involved in the work of the council were<br \/>\nsurely aware of the ongoing and lively discussion regarding ways that<br \/>\ninfants dying without baptism could be freed of original sin and be saved;<br \/>\nmany of the bishops must also have been aware of this. The council\u2019s<br \/>\nsilence on the question, as well as the Central Preparatory Commission\u2019s<br \/>\nrejection of Tromp\u2019s effort to have the council condemn such speculation,<br \/>\nsuggests that the mind of the council was to let the discussion continue<br \/>\nwithout hindrance.<br \/>\nGiven this fact, one can ask whether Vatican II made any contribution<br \/>\nto the discussion of this question. In my opinion, it did make an important<br \/>\ncontribution by insisting so strongly on the universality of the salvific will<br \/>\nof God. The basic difficulty with the traditional doctrine about limbo is<br \/>\nthat Christian salvation is eternal life in the enjoyment of the beatific<br \/>\nvision of God, from which infants in limbo are excluded through no fault<br \/>\nof their own. This raises the question about the sense in which it can be<br \/>\nsaid that God wills their salvation. While Vatican II did not address this<br \/>\nproblem, it did insist, more strongly than any previous council had done,<br \/>\nthat the salvific will of God is truly universal. In Lumen gentium no.l3 the<br \/>\ncouncil gave emphatic expression to this universality by describing those<br \/>\ncalled to salvation as \u201comnes universaliter homines.\u201d In Gaudium et spes<br \/>\nno. 22 there is the powerful statement: \u201cSince Christ died for everyone,<br \/>\nand since the ultimate calling of each of us comes from God and is<br \/>\ntherefore a universal one, we are obliged to hold that the holy Spirit offers<br \/>\nto everyone the possibility of sharing in this paschal mystery in a manner<br \/>\nknown to God.\u201d^^<br \/>\nI have seen no commentary on this text that applied it to the salvation of<br \/>\ninfants who die unbaptized. However, in his commentary on chapter 1 of<br \/>\nGaudium et spes, Joseph Ratzinger stressed a point in this text that can<br \/>\nthrow light on that question. I refer to the point that, in his view, justified<br \/>\nhis contention that article 22 of Gaudium et spes<br \/>\n\u201d Ibid. 310. 1<br \/>\n1* The English translation of the Vatican II documents that I use throughout is from<br \/>\nNorman P. Tcinner, ed.. Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, 2 vols. (Washington:<br \/>\nGeorgetown University, 1990).<br \/>\nINFANTS WHO DIE UNBAPTIZED 7<br \/>\nrepresents an advance over Lumen Gentium. The latter lays too much stress on<br \/>\nman\u2019s activity\u2026 . Here on the contrary it is decisively acknowledged that the way<br \/>\nof salvation is God\u2019s affair and cannot be defined by us. . . . It is God or his Holy<br \/>\nSpirit who offers his salvation to man and associates him with it\u2026. Salvation is not<br \/>\na \u201cwork\u201d of man. Wherever it occurs, it must ultimately be a sharing in the Easter<br \/>\nmystery of cross and resurrection.\u201d<br \/>\nI would apply Ratzinger\u2019s thought to the question under consideration here<br \/>\nby saying: \u201cThe way of salvation for infants who die unbaptized is God\u2019s<br \/>\naffair and cannot be de\u00f1ned by us. It is God or his Holy Spirit who offers to<br \/>\nthose infants a salvation that must be a sharing in the Easter mystery of<br \/>\ncross and resurrection.\u201d Since what has been thought to exclude those<br \/>\ninfants from salvation is their lack of baptism, either in re or in voto, one<br \/>\ncan also invoke Aquinas\u2019s doctrine that \u201cGod did not so bind His power to<br \/>\nthe sacraments as to be unable to bestow the effect of a sacrament without<br \/>\nthe sacrament.\u201d^^ Applying this to the case of the infant who dies<br \/>\nunbaptized, we can say that God did not so bind his power to the sacrament<br \/>\nof baptism that he cannot free an infant from the inherited guilt of original<br \/>\nsin without the sacrament.<br \/>\nIn the years following Vatican II, the council\u2019s stress on the universality<br \/>\nof the salvific will of God strengthened the conviction among many Catholic<br \/>\ntheologians that God\u2019s will to save every human person must be efficacious<br \/>\nfor infants who die without having been baptized. An article I find<br \/>\nparticularly significant, both for its author and for the journal in which it<br \/>\nappeared, is Jean Galot\u2019s \u201cLa salvezza dei bambini morti senza battesimo\u201d<br \/>\nin La civilt\u00e0 cattolica.^^ Galot argues that the development from<br \/>\nAugustine\u2019s doctrine that infants who die unbaptized are condemned to<br \/>\nhell where they suffer \u201cthe least of its pains,\u201d to Aquinas\u2019s belief that they<br \/>\nenjoy a natural happiness in limbo, was motivated by the conviction that<br \/>\nfor God to inflict even the least pains of hell on infants as punishment for<br \/>\nthe inherited guilt of original sin was incompatible with God\u2019s mercy.<br \/>\nHowever, Galot insists, this well-intentioned solution, motivated as it was<br \/>\nby the consideration of God\u2019s infinite mercy, still left the infants to suffer<br \/>\nthe eternal separation from God, which in fact is the essential pain of<br \/>\ndamnation.^\u201d Galot concludes that the exclusion of unbaptized infants from<br \/>\n\u201d Herbert Vorgrimler, ed.. Commentary on the Documents of Vatican II<br \/>\n(New York: Herder &amp; Herder, 1967-1969) 5:162.<br \/>\n^* Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae 3, q. 64, a. 7.<br \/>\n^\u2019 Jean Galot, S.J., \u201cLa salvezza dei bambini morti senza battesimo,\u201d La civilt\u00e0<br \/>\ncattolica 122 (1971) 228^0.<br \/>\n^\u00b0 See Catechism of the Catholic Church (Washington: U.S. Catholic Conference,<br \/>\n1994) no. 1035: \u201cThe chief punishment of hell is eternal separation from God, in<br \/>\nwhom alone man can possess the life and happiness for which he was created and<br \/>\nfor which he longs.\u201d<br \/>\n\u00f6 THEOLOGICAL STUDIES<br \/>\nsalvation is incompatible with God\u2019s universal salvific will. He then invokes<br \/>\nthe principle that Vatican II urged theologians to remember that \u201cin Catholic<br \/>\ndoctrine there exists an order or \u2018hierarchy\u2019 of truths, since they vary in<br \/>\ntheir connection with the foundation of the Christian faith. \u201c^^ Galot does<br \/>\nnot actually use the term \u201chierarchy of truths,\u201d but his argument is based<br \/>\non the same principle. The problem with the limbo solution was that it<br \/>\nbased the exclusion of unbaptized infants from the presence of God\u2014in<br \/>\neffect their eternal damnation\u2014on the necessity of baptism, for whose lack<br \/>\nthey could not supply by its votum. Galot offers the following solution.<br \/>\nFor the solution to this problem . . . the necessity of baptism has to be put in<br \/>\nits place. It is secondary to the salvific will, which is the regulating principle<br \/>\nof the whole economy of salvation. In determining the fate of those infants,<br \/>\none ought not to have begun with the consideration of the necessity of baptism.<br \/>\nHistorically the question was put badly, because one sought exclusively to solve<br \/>\nthe problem of this necessity. Rather, one ought to have begun with the<br \/>\ncertitude that God has provided for the salvation of these infants, and then<br \/>\nhave asked how the necessity of baptism is verified in their case. Failing to<br \/>\nfollow this basic method, theologians proposed theories that sought first of all<br \/>\nto be in accord with the necessity of baptism, but that are not in accord with<br \/>\nthe divine salvific will. They failed to recognize that the necessity of baptism is<br \/>\nonly a means instituted by God for the realization of his plan of salvation, and<br \/>\ntherefore it cannot conflict with his plan with regard to the salvation of those<br \/>\nif^^<br \/>\nRecall that Van Roo had remarked, toward the end of his survey, that<br \/>\ntheologians had been looking to the Church for a sign of encouragement,<br \/>\nbut no sign had been given. But within four years after the close of Vatican II<br \/>\nsuch a sign was given, not in the form of a doctrinal statement, but in the<br \/>\nform of a new Ordo exsequiarum (Order of Funerals), approved by Pope<br \/>\nPaul VI and promulgated on August 15,1969. This Order included funeral<br \/>\nrites for deceased children, not only for the baptized but also for the<br \/>\nunbaptized. Prior to this date it had been the custom to celebrate a Mass<br \/>\nof the Angels for the funeral of a baptized child, but no mass at all for an<br \/>\nunbaptized child, who would not be buried in consecrated ground. The fact<br \/>\nthat the new Order contained funeral rites for an unbaptized child was not<br \/>\nonly very consoling for the parents of such a child, but must also have been<br \/>\nencouraging for theologians who had been looking for such a sign. They<br \/>\nmust have been even more heartened by the prayers the Order specified to<br \/>\nbe said in the several parts of the funeral rites for the child who died<br \/>\nwithout ^^<br \/>\n^^ Vatican II, Decree on Ecumenism, Unitatis redintegratio no. 11.<br \/>\n^^ Galot, \u201cSalvezza\u201d 239-40, my translation.<br \/>\n^^ Order of Christian Funerals Approved for Use in the Dioceses of the United<br \/>\nStates of America (New York: Catholic Book, 1989) nos. 278,282,289,293,322,325.<br \/>\nINFANTS WHO DIE UNBAPTIZED 9<br \/>\nFUNERAL MASS<br \/>\nIntroductory rites<br \/>\nMy brothers and sisters, the Lord is a faithful God who created us all after his own<br \/>\nimage. All things are of his making, all creation awaits the day of salvation. We now<br \/>\nentrust the soul of N. to the abundant mercy of God, that our beloved child may<br \/>\nfind a home in his kingdom.<br \/>\nOpening prayer<br \/>\nGod of all consolation, searcher of mind and heart, the faith of these parents is<br \/>\nknown to you. Comfort them with the knowledge that the child for whom they<br \/>\ngrieve is entrusted now to your loving care.<br \/>\nFinal commendation<br \/>\nLet us commend this child to the Lord\u2019s merciful keeping; and let us pray with all<br \/>\nour hearts for N. and N. Even as they grieve at the loss of their child, they entrust<br \/>\nhim\/her to the loving embrace of God.<br \/>\nYou are the author and sustainer of our lives, O God, you are our final home.<br \/>\nTrusting in your mercy and in your all-embracing love, we pray that you give him\/<br \/>\nher happiness forever.<br \/>\nRITE OF COMMITTAL<br \/>\nLord God, ever caring and gentle, we commit to your love this little one, who<br \/>\nbrought joy to our lives for so short a time. Enfold him\/her in eternal life. We pray<br \/>\nfor his\/her parents who are saddened by the loss of their infant. Give them courage<br \/>\nand help them in their pain and grief. May they all meet one day in the joy and<br \/>\npeace of your kingdom.<br \/>\nConcluding prayer<br \/>\nGod of mercy, in the mystery of your wisdom you have drawn this child to yourself.<br \/>\nIn the midst of our pain and sorrow, we acknowledge you as Lord of the living and<br \/>\nthe dead and we search for our peace in your will. In these final moments we stand<br \/>\ntogether in prayer, believing in your compassion and generous love. Deliver this<br \/>\nchild out of death and grant him\/her a place in your kingdom of peace.<br \/>\nThese prayers clearly encourage the parents of the deceased infant to have<br \/>\nhope that their infant \u201cmay find a home in his kingdom,\u201d that God will<br \/>\n\u201cgive him\/her happiness forever,\u201d that they and their child will \u201cmeet one<br \/>\nday in the joy and peace of God\u2019s kingdom,\u201d and that God will \u201cgrant him\/<br \/>\nher a place in God\u2019s kingdom of peace.\u201d Clearly the Church no longer<br \/>\nholds that infants who die without baptism are in limbo and forever<br \/>\nexcluded from God\u2019s kingdom of peace.<br \/>\nIt seems likely that Ratzinger, speaking as a theologian, would have<br \/>\nagreed with this statement, because, in his interview with Vittorio Messori,<br \/>\npublished as The Ratzinger Report, he is quoted as having said: \u201cLimbo was<br \/>\nnever a de\u00f1ned truth of faith. Personally\u2014and here I am speaking more as<br \/>\n10 THEOLOGICAL STUDIES<br \/>\na theologian and not as Prefect of the Congregation\u2014I would abandon it,<br \/>\nsince it was only a theological hypothesis.\u201d^\u2019*<br \/>\nThe first doctrinal statement of the magisterium to recognize the new<br \/>\nstatus of the question regarding infants who die without baptism is found in<br \/>\nPastoralis actio: Instruction on the Baptism of Infants issued by the Congregation<br \/>\nfor the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) on October 20,1980.^^ The<br \/>\nintention of this instruction was to explain why the Church continues to<br \/>\ninsist that infants should be baptized within a few weeks of their birth, and<br \/>\nwhy parents should not be persuaded by the argument that baptism should<br \/>\nbe deferred until the child is mature enough to make its own decision.<br \/>\nAgainst such an argument, the CDF declared: \u201cBy its doctrine and by its<br \/>\npractice, the Church has shown that it knows no other means than baptism<br \/>\nto assure to infants their entry into eternal beatitude. That is why it is<br \/>\ncareful not to neglect the mission it has received from the Lord to cause to<br \/>\nbe reborn of water and the Spirit all those who can be baptized.\u201d It then<br \/>\ncontinued: \u201cWith regard to infants who have died without having received<br \/>\nbaptism, the Church can only commit them to the mercy of God, as it does<br \/>\nin the funeral rites that it has created for them.\u201d^^ In this statement the<br \/>\nCDF clearly recognized that while the Church cannot be sure that infants<br \/>\nwho die without baptism are saved, neither is the Church sure, as it used to<br \/>\nbe, that because they had neither received the sacrament nor had the desire<br \/>\nof receiving it, they must retain the guilt of original sin, which excludes<br \/>\nthem from the vision of God. It is noteworthy that the CDF invokes the<br \/>\nnew funeral rites for unbaptized infants as supporting its statement that one<br \/>\ncan only commit them to the mercy of God.<br \/>\nThe next official document that treats the question of infants who die<br \/>\nunbaptized is the Gatechism of the GathoUc Ghurch. This was first promulgated<br \/>\nin 1992 by Pope John Paul II, who also promulgated its revised and<br \/>\ndefinitive text in 1997. Both of these editions contain the following statement<br \/>\nabout infants who die without baptism.<br \/>\n1261. As regards children who have died without Baptism, the Chureh ean only<br \/>\nentrust them to the mercy of God, as she does in her funeral rites for them. Indeed,<br \/>\nthe great mercy of God who desires that all men should be saved, and Jesus\u2019<br \/>\ntenderness toward children which caused him to say: \u201cLet the children come to<br \/>\nme, do not hinder them,\u201d allow us to hope that there is a way of salvation for<br \/>\nchildren who have died without Baptism. All the more urgent is the Chureh\u2019s eall<br \/>\nnot to prevent little children eoming to Christ through the gift of holy Baptism.<br \/>\n^\u2019^ Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger with Vittorio Messori, The Ratzinger Report:<br \/>\nAn Exclusive Interview on the State of the Church, trans. Salvator Attanasio and<br \/>\nGraham Harrison (San Francisco: Ignatius, 1985) 147.<br \/>\n^^ CDF, Pastoralis actio. Acta Apostolicae Seals (hereafter AAS) 72 (1980)<br \/>\n1137-58.<br \/>\n^* Ibid. 1144.<br \/>\nINFANTS WHO DIE UNBAPTIZED 11<br \/>\nIn the margin is a reference to no. 1257, which repeats the sentence<br \/>\nquoted above from the CDF instruction Pastoralis ad\u00edo. Here, however, it<br \/>\nfollows that quotation with the principle affirmed by Aquinas, giving it<br \/>\nemphasis with italics: \u201cGod has bound salvation to the sacrament of Baptism,<br \/>\nbut he himself is not bound by his sacraments. \u201d Here, I believe, the<br \/>\nCatechism suggests that when the Church entrusts unbaptized infants to the<br \/>\nmercy of God, as she does in her funeral rites for them, she has good reason<br \/>\nto trust that God will do for them what baptism would have done.<br \/>\nA further step in the development of doctrine about infants who die<br \/>\nunbaptized can be seen in the encyclical Evangelium vitae issued by John<br \/>\nPaul II in 1995, where he spoke of infants, while they are still in their<br \/>\nmothers\u2019 wombs, as \u201cthe personal objects of God\u2019s loving and fatherly<br \/>\nprovidence,\u201d and declared that \u201cChristian Tradition . . . is clear and unanimous,<br \/>\nfrom the beginning up to our own day, in describing abortion as a<br \/>\nparticularly grave moral disorder. \u201c^^ After having expressed a strong condemnation<br \/>\nof the crime of direct abortion, John Paul went on, toward the<br \/>\nend of his encyclical, to address pastoral words of exhortation and consolation<br \/>\nto women who have had an abortion. He said to them:<br \/>\nThe Church is aware of the many factors which may have influenced your<br \/>\ndecision. . . . The wound in your heart may not yet have healed. Certainly, what<br \/>\nhappened was and remains terribly wrong. But do not give in to discouragement<br \/>\nand do not lose hope. Try rather to understand what happened and face it<br \/>\nhonestly. If you have not already done so, give yourselves over with humility<br \/>\nand trust to repentance. The Father of mercies is ready to give you his forgiveness<br \/>\nand his peace in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. You will come to understand<br \/>\nthat nothing is definitively lost and you will also be able to ask forgiveness<br \/>\nfrom your child, who is now living in the Lord.^^<br \/>\nOne can well imagine the consolation that a woman, whose conscience<br \/>\nwas burdened with the guilt of having chosen to abort her child, would find<br \/>\nin the words the Holy Father addressed to her. I suggest that one can also<br \/>\nfind in these words an indication of the mind of John Paul II with regard to<br \/>\nthe present state of her aborted child. The idea that the mother can ask<br \/>\nforgiveness from her aborted child would suggest that they share the<br \/>\ncommunion of saints. The affirmation that her child \u201cis now living in the<br \/>\nLord\u201d would suggest that it is now living in the presence of God. One can<br \/>\nhardly say this about a child in limbo, who would be forever excluded from<br \/>\nthe vision of God. Theologians who had been looking for signs of encouragement<br \/>\nfrom the Church for their efforts to justify belief in the salvation<br \/>\nof infants who die unbaptized have good reason to see in these words of<br \/>\n^^ John Paul II, The Gospel of Life no. 61 (Washington: U.S. Catholic Conference,<br \/>\n1995) 109.<br \/>\n2\u00bb Ibid. no. 99, pp. 177-78.<br \/>\n12 THEOLOGICAL STUDIES<br \/>\nJohn Paul II not only a confirmation of the progress made thus far but also<br \/>\na step further toward the official acceptance of this belief.<br \/>\nIt would seem, however, that John Paul\u2019s further step must have struck<br \/>\nsome influential member of the Roman Curia as \u201ca step too far.\u201d The<br \/>\nevidence for this surmise is that the definitive Latin text of Evangelium<br \/>\nvitae that was published in Acta Apostolicae Sedis simply does not have the<br \/>\nsentence that reads: \u201cYou will come to understand that nothing is definitively<br \/>\nlost, and you will also be able to ask forgiveness from your child, who<br \/>\nis now living in the Lord.\u201d In its place, the definitive Latin text has<br \/>\n\u201cInfantem autem vestrum potestis Eidem Patri Eiusque misericordiae cum<br \/>\nspe committere\u201d (\u201cYou can commend your infant with hope to the same<br \/>\nFather and his mercy\u201d).^^ No explanation is given for the substitution of<br \/>\nthis sentence for the one that was in the encyclical as it was originally<br \/>\npublished. Even more puzzling is the fact that on the Vatican website,<br \/>\nwhich gives the text of Evangelium vitae in eight languages, the translations<br \/>\ninto seven modern languages (English, French, German, Italian, Spanish,<br \/>\nPortuguese, and Polish) all have the original sentence, while the Latin<br \/>\nhas the sentence that was substituted for it in Acta Apostolicae Sedis.<br \/>\nUndoubtedly the Latin is the definitive text, but almost anyone who goes<br \/>\nto the Vatican website for the text of Evangelium vitae will choose one of<br \/>\nthe modern languages, and will not know that a sentence that was in the<br \/>\nencyclical as originally published, and that would be consoling for a mother<br \/>\nwhose infant died unbaptized, is not found in the Latin text.<br \/>\nI do not know of any explanation for this change except for a remark<br \/>\nmade in a note to a document entitled \u201cThe Hope of Salvation for Infants<br \/>\nWho Die without Being Baptised,\u201d which was issued by the International<br \/>\nTheological Commission in 2007.^\u00b0 Endnote 98 of this document reads:<br \/>\nIt is notable that the editio typica of the encyclical of Pope John Paul II, Evangelium<br \/>\nVitae, has replaced paragraph 99 which read: \u201cYou will come to understand that<br \/>\nnothing is definitively lost and you will be able to ask forgiveness from your child,<br \/>\nwho is now living in the Lord\u201d (a phrasing which was susceptible to a faulty<br \/>\ninterpretation), by this definitive text: \u201cInfantem autem vestrum potestis Eidem<br \/>\nPatri Eiusque misericordiae cum spe committere\u201d (cf. AAS 87 [1995], 515), which<br \/>\nmay be translated as follows: \u201cYou can entrust your child to the same Father and to<br \/>\nhis mercy with hope.\u201d<br \/>\nEvidently someone had judged that the pope\u2019s original sentence had<br \/>\nbeen \u201csusceptible to a faulty interpretation,\u201d and had convinced him that<br \/>\nit should not be retained in the definitive Latin text. It hardly seems possible<br \/>\n^\u2019 John Paul II, Evangelium vitae no. 99, AAS 87 (1995) 515.<br \/>\n^\u00b0 International Theological Commission, http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/roman_curia\/<br \/>\ncongregations\/cfaith\/cti_documents\/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20070419_un-baptised-infants_<br \/>\nen.html (accessed August 16, 2010). This document is also available in Spanish and<br \/>\nItalian.<br \/>\nINFANTS WHO DIE UNBAPTIZED 13<br \/>\nthat the change could have been made without his approval. But we are not<br \/>\ntold what the \u201cfaulty interpretation\u201d was, of which his sentence was<br \/>\nthought to be susceptible. I surmise that his sentence could be taken to<br \/>\nmean that we can not only hope that infants who die without baptism are in<br \/>\nheaven; we can also be sure of it. I think that is a reasonable interpretation<br \/>\nof what the pope actually said, when he told the mother that her child \u201cis<br \/>\nnow living in the Lord.\u201d And that is why I suspect that someone convinced<br \/>\nthe pope that he had gone \u201ca step too far.\u201d The reason he might have given<br \/>\nis that the Catechism of the Catholic Church had not gone beyond saying<br \/>\nthat we can hope that the infants are saved. I think it is also significant that<br \/>\nthe title of the document on this question that was issued by the International<br \/>\nTheological Commission in 2007 was: \u201cThe Hope of Salvation for<br \/>\nInfants Who Die without Being Baptised.\u201d In the course of this lengthy<br \/>\ndocument the ITC offered a very positive assessment of the theological and<br \/>\nliturgical reasons for hoping that those infants are saved. However, it did<br \/>\nnot go beyond recommending hope. Rather, it twice insisted that we cannot<br \/>\ngo beyond hope to sure knowledge. It first stressed this point in the paragraph<br \/>\nthat concluded its section entitled: \u201cReasons for Hope.\u201d<br \/>\nIt must be clearly acknowledged that the Church does not have sure knowledge<br \/>\nabout the salvation of unbaptised infants who die. She knows and celebrates<br \/>\nthe glory of the Holy Innocents, but the destiny of the generality of infants who<br \/>\ndie without baptism has not been revealed to us, and the Church teaches and<br \/>\njudges only with regard to what has been revealed. What we do positively know<br \/>\nof God, Christ and the Church gives us grounds to hope for their salvation.^^<br \/>\nThe ITC returned to this theme toward the end of its study, saying:<br \/>\nOur conclusion is that the many factors that we have considered above give serious<br \/>\ntheological and liturgical grounds for hope that unbaptised infants who die. will be<br \/>\nsaved and enjoy the Beatific Vision. We emphasise that these are reasons for<br \/>\nprayerful hope, rather than grounds for sure knowledge. There is much that has<br \/>\nnot been revealed to us. We live by faith and hope in the God of mercy and love<br \/>\nwho had been revealed to us in Christ, and the Spirit moves us to pray in constant<br \/>\nthankfulness and Joy (I Thess 5:18).^^<br \/>\nI conclude this study by asking, what does the Catholic Church now hold<br \/>\nand teach about the fate of infants who die without baptism? Someone<br \/>\nmight prefer to put the question this way: What should a confessor or<br \/>\nspiritual advisor say to a woman who has had an abortion, if she asks him<br \/>\nabout the present state of her child? My answer is that he should certainly<br \/>\nnot tell her that her child is in limbo enjoying a natural happiness, but will<br \/>\nnever be admitted to heaven. Rather, he should tell her that the Church<br \/>\nencourages her to hope and pray that her child is in heaven. But may he<br \/>\ngo further than this, and tell her that in a letter addressed to the whole<br \/>\n^^ Ibid. no. 79. ^^ Ibid. no. 103.<br \/>\n14 THEOLOGICAL STUDIES<br \/>\nCatholic Church, Pope John Paul II told a woman who had an abortion that<br \/>\nher child was now living in the Lord? Could he then leave her consoled by<br \/>\nwhat the Holy Father had said? Or must he tell her that after his letter had<br \/>\nbeen published, the pope had taken back what he had said, because it could<br \/>\nmean we can be sure that children who die without baptism go to heaven,<br \/>\nand we cannot be sure of that, since it has not been revealed?<br \/>\nHere I would ask, is it certain that it has not been revealed that<br \/>\nunbaptized children go to heaven? My reply is that there are good reasons<br \/>\nto believe that it has been revealed, in somewhat the same way that the<br \/>\nImmaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary is revealed, that is, by<br \/>\nbeing implicitly contained in truths that have been explicitly revealed. As<br \/>\nrevealed truths in which the salvation of unbaptized children has been<br \/>\nimplicitly revealed, I would propose two: the sincere will of God for the<br \/>\nsalvation of every human person, and the tender love of God for little<br \/>\nchildren, which was revealed by Jesus when he said to his disciples: \u201cLet<br \/>\nthe children come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of<br \/>\nheaven belongs to such as these\u201d (Mt 19:14). I think that anyone who<br \/>\nseriously meditated on these two truths and applied them to God\u2019s providence<br \/>\nfor infants who die unbaptized, could well become convinced that<br \/>\nGod in his loving mercy does for those infants what the sacrament would<br \/>\nhave done, so that nothing can hinder them from coming to him and living<br \/>\nwith him forever.<br \/>\nCopyright of Theological Studies is the property of Theological Studies and its content may not be copied or<br \/>\nemailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder\u2019s express written permission.<br \/>\nHowever, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><center><a href=\"http:\/\/onlineclassesguru.com\/orders\/ordernow\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com\/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTyj99p60XCLyLk1htB7-1neRt8-2QdnenNlQ&usqp=CAU\"target=\"_http:\/\/onlineclassesguru.com\/orders\/ordernow\"\/><\/center><p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Unbaptized Infants Demonstrate knowledge of the broad history of Christian thought concerning either infants by summarizing the arguments presented in the class reading The author traces the history of Catholic doctrine about the fate of infants who die unbaptized: (1) from Augustine\u2019s teaching that they are condemned to hell where they suffer \u201cthe least of&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v17.0 - 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