Jack —

The Church teaches that we can trust God's Merciful Love of these children. Pope St. John Paul II said that they are living with the Lord. They are not condemned.

Limbo was never an official doctrine of the Church; it was more of a common opinion held out of respect for the necessity of Baptism as the normal means of salvation. If, as St. Paul says in his epistles, pagans who follow the natural law and natural revelation can be saved, then of course the innocent can be saved.

It is important for family members to dedicate and surrender their child to God. Having a Mass said is a wonderful Memorial.

Mary Ann

Jack,

The simple answer is that we just don't know. Limbo was a theological opinion that gained favor in recent history before it went out of favor. It was a way of explaining where unbaptized babies went who were personally innocent of actual sin, but share in the punishment of original sin.

The teaching on Limbo, however, never gained the status of being Church doctrine. As far as we know, God has not revealed this information to us, as to what happens to stillborn, unbaptized babies. It is fashionable today among many theologians to conjure up feasible reasons why unbaptized babies go to Heaven.

Even Pope St. John Paul II mentioned that they are with the Lord, but didn't define what exactly that means so we hope in God's mercy, while understanding His Justice, until a defined doctrine is defined by the Magisterium on the subject.

We hope there is no logical contradiction in sanctifying and saving an unbaptized person under the age of reason.

Paul

Hi, Jack —

I just wanted to add one comment to what my colleagues have said.

Although Limbo never gained the status of being Church doctrine, the Early Church Fathers,
in their private theological opinions, did refer to the Limbo of the Fathers.

This is where the saints of the Old Testament went, along with unbaptized babies, before Our Blessed Lord opened the gates of Heaven at His Resurrection.

Just a historical note.

Mike