Attention, Limbo was NEVER a Catholic Church doctrine. Why are people so easily manipulated by the news media?

Question

The press reports are misleading. Please do your homework and learn Catholic doctrine before giving an opinion about it.
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"Limbo" was never a Catholic Church doctrine.

Here is what the Catholic Church has taught and still teaches on the mater:

1261 As regards children who have died without Baptism, the Church can only entrust them to the mercy of God, as she does in her funeral rites for them. Indeed, the great mercy of God who desires that all men should be saved, and Jesus' tenderness toward children which caused him to say: "Let the children come to me, do not hinder them," allow us to hope that there is a way of salvation for children who have died without Baptism. All the more urgent is the Church's call not to prevent little children coming to Christ through the gift of holy Baptism.
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Source is the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

"Commonly held ideas" are NOT Church doctrine.
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Church doctrine is not about rumors and "commonly held ideas". Please do your homework!
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Answer 1

Thank you, as it is very aggravating to listen to "Catholics" and non-Catholics getting upset about this document or opining negatively against the Catholic Church. Nothing has changed people. The Catholic Church hasn't changed, whether you like that or not.

Answer 2

Limbo may not have ever been a Catholic church doctrine, but it did exist across the different denominations of Christianity. Catholicism is a sect of Christianity after the birth of Christianity. However, not that many people care or know what Limbo is, on a subject like this, which is obscure and for the most part irrelevant, brings the pope great popularity and praise among not only the Catholic or Christian community, but also the religious community. He's revered as god-like or a hero by religious leaders when he brings attention and awarness to a subject that not many care for or even know about. Once inquiring about what limbo is, then one may have more questions which answers may persuade the asker to become devout, fearful or even will all his/her posessions to the church, which is very much the case in Europe.

All of a sudden out of nowhere comes this limbo and everybody's curious and asks "what's Limbo". It also draws attention to the church by those who would never go to church, and the idea of no Limbo for god fearing folks strikes fear into their psyche's because now when you die there is no waiting room before you are admitted into heaven or hell. It can also make the non-believer (atheist/agnostic) god fearing. But how does he know there is no Limbo? Has he actually tried to go to heaven or hell and not notice a little road-side turnout with a sign dangling above the trash can, written in a firey font "Limbo"?

The real objective for this announcement by the pope is to strike more fear into the sheep-like Christian society, especially those who sit on the fence. After 9/11 fear has been propagated heavily by the government and now the church will follow suite. Who ever said anything about separation of church and state, huh?

Religion, no matter what faith, is a very powerful tool to manipulate the masses and also the oldest. Along with the media they make a great team to really get the message out, repeat it again and again and voila! you have even more sheep to shear. The best thing to do is completely ignore it.

Answer 3

The 41-page document was published on Friday by Origins, the documentary service of the U.S.-based Catholic News Service, which is part of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Pope Benedict, himself a top theologian who before his election in 2005 expressed doubts about limbo, authorized 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 been expected 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 baptize them).”

The Church teaches that baptism removes original sin which stains all souls since the fall from grace in the Garden of Eden.

“NO NEGATION OF BAPTISM”
The document stressed that its conclusions should not be interpreted 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 unbaptized 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 nonbaptised 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.

Answer 4

Yes perhaps **Everyone** should read the Catholic Doctrine before makeing statements on it.


The Church Cleaning Up Its Act?

Catholic priest and writer Dietzen says that Pope Pius VI called for a place for Catholic babies to go—a place of happiness that is not heaven, and which has no suffering. (Dietzen, 302) In contrast to what the Church normally teaches on the subject, Dietzen says that children go into the presents of God when they die. This may or may not take place. He surmises, that maybe the faith of the parents secure the safety of Catholic children who have died!

Dietzen admits that the teaching on limbo was an older approach to doctrine “which the church is trying to correct today.” (Ibid.) He further states that all Catholic teaching used to be presented as of equal importance and certainty. What Dietzen is saying is that life-and-death doctrines are fluid in the Catholic Church—they may make changes to fit the times. That means millions of Catholics in ages past lived under the terrible pall of the doctrine of limbo, but the Church has now changed its view on the subject. With the shifting of such momentous doctrine, “A Limbo of natural happiness for infants is, therefore, something Catholics may believe. It is not a necessary part of our faith.” (Dietzen, 303)

This author agrees and argues that such a teaching should never have been propagated. However, the very basis of Catholicism, with its view of the infallibility of the Pope, and the infallibility of tradition, makes Catholicism a heresy. Papal authority, and the decrees of the Councils, can override what the Word of God says, or does not say.

Catholic theology on this issue was re-shaped with the Second Vatican Council. The theory of limbo seemed to be less and less tenable in the light of the universal offer of grace from the very beginning of each person’s existence. (Cat, 1179) Here is another case of how the Church can re-mold a teaching, or get rid of it all together, by simply ignoring it! “Nevertheless, the Catholic Church continues to endorse, indeed mandate, the practice of immediately baptizing infants in danger of death.” (Ibid.)

In contemporary [Catholic] theology the doctrine of limbo is controversial. Some theologians regard it as binding because it appears in ecclesial tradition, especially in various catechisms. Most theologians of our time, however, reject the idea of limbo because, on the one hand, it is difficult to reconcile with the universal salvific will of God. (Handbook, 434)

Answer 5

Many people do not know what the defined doctrine of the Catholic Church is, that includes the Media. Not all church teachings are defined doctrine.

Answer 6

Limbo wasn't necessarilly doctrine (catechism); but has been taught by Catholic Churchs for centuries...my wife was raised Catholic as well as my mother.

from your catechism...regarding purgatory and limbo....
1030 All who die in God's grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.

Limbo was reasoned to exist because the infants and unborn had never known God or received his grace by the Catholic sacrament of baptism.

Answer 7

so what if LIMBO was never a cathoilc doctrine???? it's being taught to catholics for the most part of the 20th century. Its almost the same as PURGATORY. A place imagined by some catholic priest in the early periods in order to raise funds for the church!!!!

Answer 8

What you're saying is rubbish. The fact is that Limbo absolutely and positively was taught as Catholic Church doctrine by Catholic Priests and Catholic Nuns in the Catholic Church school I attended.

If it wasn't "official" church doctrine it was taught as such.

Answer 9

It was never technically church doctrine, but it was taught to Catholics well into the 20th century. It was well entwined in Catholic tradition. No question about it.

You're downplaying Pope Benedict's decision as if it wasn't controversial. But honestly, it's not like this is the worst controversy the Catholic Church has been faced with. They'll survive.

Answer 10

>>Why are people so easily manipulated by the news media?<<

You'll notice that many are positively gleeful at the prospect that the Church has "changed" a "teaching", which "proves" the Church is "false", "man-made", etc.

These folks don't care about the truth, they just want to clutch at any straw they think will make the Church look bad.

Answer 11

The Catholic Church is always a target of the media and critics, mainly because it's such an easy target due to its size and heirarchical structure. As a Catholic, I agree with you totally. The media need to do their homework. Protestants, too, need to do their homework as they are grossly mislead by their pastors on about 90% of Catholic doctrine as well.