Eccles Posted April 21, 2007 Share Posted April 21, 2007 Catholic Church lays limbo to rest http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id...410&rss=yes Saturday Apr 21 10:36 AEST The Roman Catholic Church has effectively buried the concept of limbo, the place where centuries of tradition and teaching held that babies who die without baptism went. In a long-awaited document, the Church's InternationalTheological Commission said limbo reflected an "undulyrestrictive view of salvation". The 41-page document was published by Origins, the documentary service of the US-based Catholic News Service,which is part of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. Pope Benedict, himself a top theologian who before hiselection in 2005 expressed doubts about limbo, authorised the publication of the document, called "The Hope of Salvation for Infants Who Die Without Being Baptised". The verdict that limbo could now rest in peace had beenexpected for years. The document was seen as most likely the final word since limbo was never part of Church doctrine, even though it was taught to Catholics well into the 20th century. "The conclusion of this study is that there are theological and liturgical reasons to hope that infants who die without baptism may be saved and brought into eternal happiness even if there is not an explicit teaching on this question found in revelation," it said. "There are reasons to hope that God will save these infants precisely because it was not possible (to baptise them)." The Church teaches that baptism removes original sin which stains all souls since the fall from grace in the Garden of Eden. The document stressed that its conclusions should not beinterpreted as questioning original sin or "used to negate the necessity of baptism or delay the conferral of the sacrament". Limbo, which comes from the Latin word meaning "border" or "edge", was considered by medieval theologians to be a state or place reserved for the un-baptised dead, including good people who lived before the coming of Christ. "People find it increasingly difficult to accept that God is just and merciful if he excludes infants, who have no personal sins, from eternal happiness, whether they are Christian or non-Christian," the document said. It said the study was made all the more pressing because"the number of non-baptised infants has grown considerably, and therefore the reflection on the possibility of salvation for these infants has become urgent". The commission's conclusions had been widely expected. In writings before his election as Pope in 2005, the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger made it clear he believed the concept of limbo should be abandoned because it was "only a theological hypothesis" and "never a defined truth of faith". In the Divine Comedy, Dante placed virtuous pagans and great classical philosophers, including Plato and Socrates, in limbo. The Catholic Church's official catechism, issued in 1992 after decades of work, dropped the mention of limbo. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It is about time Joe Ratslinger and his cronies admitted to the fact that there is no Heaven, No Hell and NO "GOD". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garnet Posted April 21, 2007 Share Posted April 21, 2007 I find this comment particularly telling: "People find it increasingly difficult to accept that God is just and merciful if he excludes infants, who have no personal sins, from eternal happiness, whether they are Christian or non-Christian," the document said. Not an argument that God is just and merciful, but rather that people find it difficult to believe. *shakes head* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarthOkkata Posted April 21, 2007 Share Posted April 21, 2007 Catholic Church lays limbo to resthttp://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id...410&rss=yes Saturday Apr 21 10:36 AEST The Roman Catholic Church has effectively buried the concept of limbo, the place where centuries of tradition and teaching held that babies who die without baptism went. In a long-awaited document, the Church's InternationalTheological Commission said limbo reflected an "undulyrestrictive view of salvation". The 41-page document was published by Origins, the documentary service of the US-based Catholic News Service,which is part of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. Pope Benedict, himself a top theologian who before hiselection in 2005 expressed doubts about limbo, authorised the publication of the document, called "The Hope of Salvation for Infants Who Die Without Being Baptised". The verdict that limbo could now rest in peace had beenexpected for years. The document was seen as most likely the final word since limbo was never part of Church doctrine, even though it was taught to Catholics well into the 20th century. "The conclusion of this study is that there are theological and liturgical reasons to hope that infants who die without baptism may be saved and brought into eternal happiness even if there is not an explicit teaching on this question found in revelation," it said. "There are reasons to hope that God will save these infants precisely because it was not possible (to baptise them)." The Church teaches that baptism removes original sin which stains all souls since the fall from grace in the Garden of Eden. The document stressed that its conclusions should not beinterpreted as questioning original sin or "used to negate the necessity of baptism or delay the conferral of the sacrament". Limbo, which comes from the Latin word meaning "border" or "edge", was considered by medieval theologians to be a state or place reserved for the un-baptised dead, including good people who lived before the coming of Christ. "People find it increasingly difficult to accept that God is just and merciful if he excludes infants, who have no personal sins, from eternal happiness, whether they are Christian or non-Christian," the document said. It said the study was made all the more pressing because"the number of non-baptised infants has grown considerably, and therefore the reflection on the possibility of salvation for these infants has become urgent". The commission's conclusions had been widely expected. In writings before his election as Pope in 2005, the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger made it clear he believed the concept of limbo should be abandoned because it was "only a theological hypothesis" and "never a defined truth of faith". In the Divine Comedy, Dante placed virtuous pagans and great classical philosophers, including Plato and Socrates, in limbo. The Catholic Church's official catechism, issued in 1992 after decades of work, dropped the mention of limbo. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It is about time Joe Ratslinger and his cronies admitted to the fact that there is no Heaven, No Hell and NO "GOD". So, in other words. It doesn't exist because the Pope and this document says so? Basically, I told god that the idea was silly, wasn't scary enough, and made people feel bad. So he just erased an entire plane of existence from being, and now we all feel better because jesus loves our unbaptised heathens? Blatant stupidity. If there was such a thing as god, and I'm convinced there isn't, he wouldn't care what the beuracracy of the papal state said about the matter would he? All the worlds babies are now safe. Now we can all feel better, whew. I for one loath the idea of Heaven. I've got no desire to spend the rest of eternity in a retirement home. Discontent breeds creativity. At least hell wouldn't be boring. This is just silly. Why would they even bother having a meeting about this anyway? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JGJ@ReligionisBullshit Posted April 21, 2007 Share Posted April 21, 2007 I have always failed to see the point in Limbo, they won't get to heaven and they won't get to hell. So what's the point? It just makes it that more obvious that these guys have no clue about the afterlife and are making it up as they go along. If it wasn't for Dante's works of fiction they would have even less than no clue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antlerman Posted April 22, 2007 Share Posted April 22, 2007 People find it increasingly difficult to accept that God is just and merciful if he excludes infants, who have no personal sins, from eternal happiness, whether they are Christian or non-Christian," the document said. I think this expresses the whole motive behind dumping the teaching. It's something they can sacrifice to make God more marketable that doesn't really undermine the Church's authority. It never was an official doctrine, though it may as well have been considering how pervasive it has been for generations. Slowly... the beast evolves its image of God to keep itself in business in today's marketplace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piprus Posted April 22, 2007 Share Posted April 22, 2007 Well, at least the idea of Limbo was always more palatable than the doctrine of infant damnation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vixentrox Posted April 22, 2007 Share Posted April 22, 2007 Funny how doctorine changes with the times. Idiots. Either you are in line with the bible or you are not. Making shit up on whim.....well what else is new right? Bible can mean whatever a church leader says it means and the fucking sheep will blindly follow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick5 Posted April 23, 2007 Share Posted April 23, 2007 I love how those hypocrites change their beliefs to fit their morals, and not vice versa like they claim. Too bad their beliefs are unbiblical and if the bible is true, they will burn in hell... with the little dead babies. Original sin anyone? You can't go to heaven unless you accept christ as your savior. Children are too young to know about that. Therefore, in christianity a dead baby goes straight to hell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandpa Harley Posted April 23, 2007 Share Posted April 23, 2007 People find it increasingly difficult to accept that God is just and merciful if he excludes infants, who have no personal sins, from eternal happiness, whether they are Christian or non-Christian," the document said. I think this expresses the whole motive behind dumping the teaching. It's something they can sacrifice to make God more marketable that doesn't really undermine the Church's authority. It never was an official doctrine, though it may as well have been considering how pervasive it has been for generations. Slowly... the beast evolves its image of God to keep itself in business in today's marketplace. Buddy Jesus, anyone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts