What is this story that the Catholic Church has changed it's stand regarding Limbo?

Question

I mean, what on earth is limbo, and why did the Pope change the teaching?

Answer 1

The Concise Oxford Dictionary says that Limbo is a “region on border of hell, supposed abode of pre-Christian righteous persons and unbaptized infants; . . . condition of neglect or oblivion.” Concerning Limbo, the New Catholic Encyclopedia says: “Today the term is used by theologians to designate the state and place either of those souls who did not merit hell and its eternal punishments but could not enter heaven before the Redemption (the fathers’ Limbo) or of those souls who are eternally excluded from the beatific vision because of original sin alone (the children’s Limbo).”

However, the same encyclopedia also says: “The fate of infants dying without Baptism is indeed a very complex problem. . . . The question of Limbo still belongs among the unsettled questions of theology. An official endorsement of Limbo’s existence by the Church is not to be found.” In confirmation of this, The New Encyclopædia Britannica states: “Because the Roman Catholic Church has never officially endorsed the doctrine of limbo as an existing state or place, the concept of limbo remains a question that is unsettled.”

In spite of this, many devout Catholics accept the concept of Limbo. But please consider this point carefully: Why should babies be condemned to exist in a mysterious, incomprehensible place for all eternity simply because they were not baptized.
The below article link takes you to the newstory about the change in Catholic doctrine.

Answer 2

The news coverage has been really misleading. Limbo was never an official teaching. It was, and remains, theological speculation about what happens to babies who die without baptism.

The Pope recently approved a document that states, "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." (emphasis mine)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070420/ts_nm/pope_limbo_dc_2

This is nothing new; something very similar can be found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which was published 15 years ago.
http://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism/p2s2c1a1.htm#VI

Some of the news articles are stating that the Pope has 'abolished Limbo', but since we can only HOPE these infants MAY go to Heaven, the possibility still exists that they go somewhere else.

Answer 3

The Church has pondered the suggestion of Limbo for a few hundred years and has decided that it is not a good idea. Limbo was never official doctrine.

Jesus said, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved." (Mark 16:15-16)

For centuries, people have wondered about children who died before they were baptized. The Bible does not explicitly state that they will go to heaven.

Limbo was suggested as the place where unbaptized babies went when they died. This idea was never official Church doctrine and has been rejected.

The Church now says that it is not sure what happens to unbaptized babies when they die but she entrusts them to the mercy of God.

With love in Christ.

Answer 4

Limbo was a hypothesis that was taught by the Catholic Church, It was never defined doctrine.
The Church teaches that unbaptised people who do not know the merits of baptisms can receive the baptism of desire by the way they live their lives. However it has been felt by many that an unbaptised infant cannot gain the baptism of desire so they were in limbo.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church published 15 years ago does not mention Limbo. The Pope just stated it was hypothesis not doctrine. A Catholic is free to believe in it or he can be like me, feel that the unbaptised infant is in Heaven.

Answer 5

limbo derived from latin means, on the border or edge. It is a place of nothing. and up untill the pope said so, it was were little babys went for eternity because their dumb asses didnt get themselves baptized before they decided to go and die. also this question is constitutes heresy......the pope is infallible. he is the decider, he decides.