The Point
January 2006
Limbo Reviewed
When word got out that the Vatican was discussing Limbo because of the vast increase of infant fatality—due mostly from abortion—the media was quick to criticize and turn the topic into a parody. Many one-time Catholics who never went beyond the penny catechism became experts on the subject, while those who wanted to understand what the Church teaches heard that Limbo was “medieval speculation,” “irrational belief,” and “the cause of untold misery to countless mothers.” “Limbo was just another stick,” they are told, “used by the Church to keep the masses submissive through fear and trembling.”
Does the Church teach unpopular doctrines? Undoubtedly this is Her history, starting with Her Founder, Who was crucified for teaching that He is God. His Church was persecuted for the first 300 years for claiming that there was no other name under Heaven than Jesus given to men for salvation. (cf. Acts 4:12) All the gods of the Gentiles are devils. (Psalm 95:5) This was not the most politically correct way to speak to the Roman Emperors, governors, and judges, but this is the way the martyrs spoke. Above all considerations, Truth must not be subjected to silence and compromise. The Truth shall make you free. (John 8:32)
While attempting to summarily abolish Limbo, the veracity of other “unpopular” teachings is now under increased fire. “If the Church can change its belief in such an ancient teaching, then everything should come under contemporary evaluation.” It is said that the Church doctrines must give way to the modern scientific approach. Predictions are being made that literal interpretations of Transubstantiation, the birth of Christ in the stable, and Hell will likewise be abandoned. “And what about Purgatory? Like Limbo, you can’t find that in the Bible either.”
Not Medieval
With a little investigation, one will find that the existence of Limbo predates the Church. In the Old Testament, it was well known from revelation that Heaven was closed until the Redeemer came. What we call “Limbo of the Just” was often referred to as Abraham’s bosom. (Luke 16:22) The word “Limbo” may have been coined but so was “Catholic.” Is it logical to say—as some do—that because the word “Catholic” does not appear in the Bible, Constantine founded the Church in the year 312? Is the Trinity an invention of the Church because It expounds this doctrine of revelation in terms not used in the Bible? Neither the Evangelists nor Saint Paul used the word transubstantiation, yet they described the mystery that the word signifies.
As words and terms were developed to explain and clarify Divine Revelation, so too, Creeds and Catechisms came into being. Some non-believers claim that Catechisms contain “made up doctrines” while in reality, they are a methodological and scientific explanation of the mysteries revealed by God.
In the very first Creed—not found in the Bible but given to us by the Apostles—we profess, “He (Christ) descended into Hell, …” Why did Christ descend into Hell? Was it to release the souls of the damned since He is all-merciful? Or are there different parts of Hell?
Saint Peter tell us that Christ, after His death, went down to the souls that were in prison to announce their redemption. (cf. 1 Peter 3:19) And since Saint Paul taught that there is no fellowship of light with darkness, (2 Cor. 6:14) it was believed from the beginning that Christ went down to that part of Hell where the souls of the Just waited for the Redeemer to come. It was neither the place of purgation (Purgatory), where souls are cleansed from temporal punishment due to sin, nor the place where dwell the souls of those in the state of Original Sin only (Limbo of the children). It is called Hell to make the major distinction that it is not Heaven.
While hanging on the cross, Our Lord promised the good thief, This day you will be with Me in paradise. (Luke 23:43) The soul of the good thief did not go to Heaven until Our Lord’s Ascension but rather to the place where the just awaited their release. By Our Lord’s descent on the day He died, that portion of Hell was turned into paradise. “He went,” says Saint Cyprian (258) “like a great king who delivers his subjects from a prison where they have been kept in durance.”
One Immaculate Conception
Limbo of the children—the Limbo currently under question—also existed in the Old Testament. Those who died in Original Sin and without personal sin were gathered there. Unlike the Just who had died in the state of grace and were waiting the Redeemer, these souls had not been born into the life of grace. Therefore, this place is sometimes referred to as the “Limbo of the unregenerate.”
Saint Thomas Aquinas believed that these souls were not released from Limbo by Our Lord’s descent. “The Apostle says (cf. Rom. 3:25) God hath proposed Christ to be a propitiation, through faith in His blood. But the children who had died with only Original Sin were in no wise sharers of faith in Christ. Therefore, they did not receive the fruits of Christ’s propitiation, so as to be delivered by Him from Hell.” (Summa Q.52, a.7, III)
Limbo is contingent on the doctrine of Original Sin, which some dismiss as of little consequence. However, to believe in the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is to believe in Original Sin. Of all God’s human creatures, the Blessed Virgin Mary alone was never touched by Original Sin or any sin. She is the Immaculate Conception—in the singular. Every other person comes into this world with the guilt of the sin of our first parents—or more correctly the sin of Adam.
Aside from Revelation, Saint Paul, and the pronouncements of the Church, the doctrine of Original Sin is supported by human reason, because Divine Truth is never unreasonable. Original Sin offers a reasonable explanation of death, sickness, crime, natural disaster, and all the evils of this world. These ills are not from an all-loving God but are the result of man offending God. Some are punitive in nature while others stem from man’s fallen state with its clouded intellect and weakened will.
What are the major effects of Original Sin?
The fundamental principle is the deprivation of Sanctifying Grace. Saint Paul explains that we are all sinners and have therefore incurred the penalty of sin, which is death. Wherefore as by one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned. (Romans 5:12) We did not sin of our own free will, but in Adam, our representative. We inherit our nature from him, our fallen human nature.
The great Council of Trent (1545-1563) in its Dogmatic Decree on Justification teaches that “no one is innocent by nature, that it is necessary that each one recognize and confess that all men lost their innocence in the prevarication of Adam (cf. Rom. 5:12; 1 Cor. 15:22) having become unclean (Isa. 64:6) and as the Apostle says, by nature children of wrath. (Eph. 2:3) (Denzinger 793)
And again in its Decree on Original Sin, “if anyone asserts that the transgression of Adam has harmed him alone and not his posterity …and has transfused the punishments of the body into the whole human race but not sin also, which is the death of the soul, let him be anathema.” (Denz. 789)
Another result of having Original Sin is being under the influence of the Devil. In the ancient rite of Baptism—used until the new rite of Baptism was introduced after Vatican II—Exorcism of the Devil is part of the ceremony. Saint Thomas Aquinas said that this was indeed fitting and right, confirming Pope Celestine who says, “Whether children or young people approach the sacrament of regeneration, they should not come to the Fount of Life before the unclean spirit has been expelled from them by the exorcisms and breathings of the clerics.” (Summa Q.71, A.2, III) Saint Thomas goes on to say that this is no empty ceremony and should not be omitted, calling on the authority of Saint Augustine (430) and Saint Cyprian (258).
Every soul, therefore, must be cleansed from this state of sin which makes one a child of wrath. Original Sin must be wiped away so that the soul that was spiritually dead can come to life.
How is Original Sin removed?
In the New Testament Original Sin is removed by the laver of regeneration. In the Nicene Creed, “We confess one Baptism for the remission of sins.”
According to Christ’s own words it is by Baptism alone that puts one on the path to Heaven. Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Spirit, he shall not enter the kingdom of Heaven. (John 3:5)
The Council of Florence applied these words of Our Lord to Baptism. “Holy Baptism, which is the gateway to the spiritual life, holds the first place among all the sacraments: through it we are made members of Christ and of the body of the Church. And since death entered into the universe through the first man, unless we are born of water and the Spirit, we cannot, as the Truth says, enter into the kingdom of Heaven.” (Denz. 696)
The false teachings of Palagius and his followers who denied Original Sin were condemned at the Council of Carthage (417-418) and approved by Pope Saint Zosimus. Canon 2 places under anathema anyone who says that infants draw nothing from the sin Adam and need not to be baptized.
The Council of Trent in its Canons on the Sacrament of Baptism declares: “If anyone shall say that Baptism is not necessary for salvation, let him be anathema.” (Denz. 861) And again in Paragraph four of its definitive Decree on Original Sin, it declares that infants are to be baptized even if they are born of baptized parents since Original Sin falls on all and must be expiated by the laver of regeneration.
Where do the souls of the unbaptized go?
If anything is certain in the Catholic Faith it is that unbaptized souls do not go to Heaven.
“The punishment of Original Sin is the deprivation of the vision of God, but the punishment of actual sin is the torments of everlasting Hell…” (Innocent III Den. 410).
Children who have not the use of reason cannot commit sin and therefore cannot be punished with the torments of Hell, yet Original Sin deprives them of the vision of God, which is enjoyed by the Blessed in Heaven. To be barred from Heaven is not an injustice. And yet to the modern mind it seems inconceivable that anyone can be excluded from Heaven through no fault of his own.
Here is an example that may help explain this mystery: Suppose a king had a servant whom he decided to favor and told him, “I wish to raise you and your family in rank to nobility. I will give you and your heirs some choice land and a castle so that you may live comfortably. Just continue a little longer to serve me well.” But an enemy of the King came to the servant and asked him to betray the king and he consented. Would the King do him an injustice by going back on his promise? Could the children claim that they were treated unjustly because they were neither given land nor raised to nobility? No, it was not their due in the first place but was a promise given out of generosity.
For Adam to obtain Heaven for both Himself and his posterity, he had to pass a test. Eating of the forbidden fruit seems a trivial offence but looking at it from another angle, it was a very easy test. Had it been any harder, we may have blamed God for Adam’s failure.
Some Popes and doctors speak of more than the loss of the Beatific Vision as punishment for Original Sin. Pope John XXII wrote in 1321 “It (The Roman Church) teaches that the souls of those who die in mortal sin, or with only Original Sin descend immediately into Hell; however, to be punished with different penalties and in different places.” (Denz. 493a)
And again: “The souls of those who depart in actual mortal sin or in Original Sin only, descend immediately into Hell but to undergo punishments of different kinds.” (Council of Florence 1438-1445, Denz. 693) This is also the teaching of the Council of Lyons II, held in 1274.
Here is where the debate has been among Church fathers, doctors, saints and theologians through the centuries. What does punishment of unregenerate children entail—not whether they go to Heaven. Some believe it went beyond that of the deprivation of Heaven. Do the souls in Limbo suffer from the pain of loss? Some authorities thought this until the time of Saint Thomas Aquinas, who believed that Limbo is a state of perfect natural happiness without any internal suffering caused by the loss of Heaven. Later, the debate focused on whether this happiness is as perfect as it would have been before the fall of Adam.
The early Greek fathers were of the opinion expressed by Saint Gregory Nazianzen (389) “I believe,” spoke he, “that infants dying without Baptism will neither be admitted by the Just Judge to the glory of Heaven, nor condemned to suffer punishment, since, though unsealed by Baptism, they are not wicked…For from the fact that one does not merit punishment it does not follow that he is worthy of being honored, any more than it follows that one who is not worthy of a certain honor deserves on that account to be punished.” (Orat. XL 23)
Besides Baptism are there other means of salvation?
Many compare aborted babies to the Holy Innocents. Undoubtedly the Holy Innocents are martyrs since they died in place of Christ and out of Herod’s hatred for Him. However, these martyrs were all Jewish babies from or close to Bethlehem and were all circumcised according to the Jewish Law, which all agree took away Original Sin in the Old Testament. Baptism was not instituted until 30 years later. Today’s babies are aborted for selfish reasons and at most two to three percent for reasons of health. Even if a few exceptions were possible, that would not disprove or abolish Limbo.
Can the souls of Limbo change their lot by any profession of Faith, desire for Baptism or by being baptized at this time? No, with death one’s state is fixed according to Saint Thomas and Saint John Damascene. “Death is to men what their fall was to the angels.” (De Fide Orthod. II)
Some may claim that babies certainly fall into the category of the invincible ignorant and therefore will gain salvation. Ignorance however is negative and bears no positive fruit. According to the Council of Trent, even good works are not sufficient for justification. “If anyone says that man can be justified before God by his own works…let him be anathema.” (Can. 1 on Justification) If anything, ignorance suspends punishment while Heaven is a reward if the conditions are met. Baptism is an indispensable condition.
Some believe that the God in His mercy will bring to Heaven all the unbaptized children but this is contrary to Our Lord’s explicit words and God’s merciful and all-wise plan of salvation as divinely revealed. In thoughts of Saint Thomas, you will find God’s mercy. “No wise man grieves for being unable to fly like a bird, or because he is not king or emperor, since these things are not due to him…but children were never adapted to possess eternal life. Hence they will nowise grieve for being deprived of the divine vision; nay, rather will they rejoice for that they will have a large share of God’s goodness and their own natural perfections.” (Summa App. I Q.1, a.2)
To sum up, the doctrine of Limbo has been debated as to its nature happiness or suffering, and the opinion of Saint Thomas Aquinas has generally prevailed right up until our own time. However there was never any debate and it has always been believed that unbaptized children do not go to Heaven. If ever the rule of Saint Vincent Lerins applies, it is here: “That is truly Catholic doctrine, what has been held always, and everywhere, and by all.”