No limbo for unbaptised children
Vatican City (AsiaNews) The concept of Limbo is "neither essential nor necessary" and can be dropped "without compromising the faith" as a place for the souls of unbaptised children, this according to the International Theological Commission which met in Rome on October 2-6 to discuss the issue.
The members of the commission, who celebrated mass this morning with Benedict XVI in the Redemptoris Mater Chapel, do not intend any "break from the great tradition of the faith", but only avoid "the use of images and metaphors that do not adequate account for the richness of the message of hope that is given to us in Jesus Christ".
The conclusions reached by the commission, which is only a consultative body, will be more thoroughly explained in a future paper. In the meantime, the highlights were presented by the newly-appointed bishop of Chieti-Vasto, theologian Bruno Forte, to the I Media news agency.
The issue does not involve changing the doctrine of original sin, the archbishop said. "Original Sin is a reality that really marks the fragility of the human condition," he noted. And baptism is necessary to remove its stain.
But in the case of children who are not baptised, through no fault of their own, "then it would seem that the saving power of Christ ought to prevail over the power of sin," he explained. What is more, the concept of Limbo has never been formally defined in Catholic teaching, but is more of a "theological creation". In fact, in 1984, then-Cardinal Ratzinger expressed his own "purely personal" belief that the concept of Limbo had outlived its pastoral value.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church does not define that "place" either but place trust in God's mercy and entrust unbaptised children to his loving care.
The archbishop stressed that the International Theological Commission is not introducing any change in Catholic doctrine, and said he hoped that his statements will "reassure those who are worried about a discontinuity" in teaching.
Indeed the essential doctrinal points that led theologians to posit the existence of Limbo will still be clearly upheld in the forthcoming paper, Mgr Forte said. The Commission hopes to present those points with greater clarity "without compromising the faith of the Church in any way".
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