Theologians today offer a different reading of a concept that has fallen into disuse
Limbo has ended up in limbo. Although it was never defined as a dogma, it was an “out” that theologians found in order to answer the question of what happened to children who died without being baptized. In reality, it was a “pious” answer meant to spare these innocents the pains of hell. Today, post–Second Vatican Council theology has found new answers more in keeping with the idea of a merciful God the Father.
Bishop Alessandro Maggiolini, theologian and one of the drafters of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, explains why limbo no longer appears in Christian doctrine. Bishop Maggiolini clarifies that this subject is not discussed because “it is a theological hypothesis that does not seem solidly founded in Revelation. Silence is a rather wise option also because limbo, if it had been mentioned, could not have been compared either with paradise or with hell. These are two conditions of which people often speak in an analytical and somewhat petulant way in a certain clumsy popular catechesis. The Catechism seems instead to suggest that, at the end of earthly life, there are no intermediate solutions between blessedness and condemnation.”
What, then, can Christian eschatology answer about the destiny of unborn children? “Regarding children who die without baptism,” Bishop Maggiolini replies, “the Church can only entrust them to the mercy of God, who wills all men to be saved. Jesus’ tenderness toward children must mean something. God has revealed to us his sincere and efficacious will to have everyone with him, and he also awaits these little ones. We may hope that they are in the peace of God through paths that God has not communicated to us.”
Leaving aside the case of adults, who can choose, the baptism of children helps toward salvation when it is possible. “If not,” Bishop Maggiolini explains, “then analogously, in a way hidden from us, even children are not saved without Christ and without the Church, in whose bosom the Savior of all is present and active. It is thought that the Lord Jesus can also reach these little ones who need to be freed from original sin. It is better not to be too curious about the means Christ uses, he who wants to save ‘you and all,’ as the formula of Eucharistic consecration says.”
Source: ZENIT, ROME, May 4.
