(Redirected from Limbo of Children)
In the Catholic tradition, limbo the status or temporary place of the souls of the righteous among the believers who have died before the resurrection of Jesus (limbo of the patriarchs), and the permanent place or state of non-baptized persons who die young age without having committed any personal sin, but have been removed from original sin by baptism (limbo of children). Theoretically, at least according to some interpretations, and despite its name, this too would go to those adults who have not committed any personal sin, would not have had the opportunity to learn about the Christian doctrine or be baptized, although the state of concupiscence due to original sin would make the very remote possibility that a case has come to be.
The meaning of limbo is the edge or border, and enters the language when they wanted to indicate that the dead children without personal sins will reside in the border region of hell, a kind of higher level, where it does not reach the fire. Although popularly understood as a site to which the souls go, “from the theological point of view the concept was never fully defined, it was what is known in theology as” teologumeno. In fact, limbo was never declared dogma by the Church (as if it was the Purgatorio), although this belief was widespread in the Catholic world. If it was dogmatically declared that the original sin deserves the punishment of hell, and that only through baptism, in whatever form, can be forgiven the guilt that accompanies it.
The first doctrine to be set regarding the fate of non-baptized was developed by San Agustin, in the context of its opposition to the doctrine of original sin pelagian, which was declared heretical his initiative in the Council of Carthage (418). According to their findings, the original sin deserves the punishment of hell, including torture, by itself, and children are not baptized can not have another destination, but the Agustin stated his belief that there should only suffer a penalty levisima (Mitissima poena omnium sane ‘), some limited to deprivation of vision beatifies (vision of God). The doctrine was reaffirmed in the second councils of Lyon (1274, Denzinger: 464) and Florence (1439-1445, Denzinger: 693).
The term was introduced by limbo Albert the Great, and the spread of the doctrine of a specific place for children, in addition to other houses (heaven, hell, purgatory and limbo of the patriarchs) is due to the influence of Santo Tomas, his disciple. It was never incorporated into the dogma, but then managed as a common belief in the teachings of the Church and include, for example, in the catechism of Ripalda (1616). when looking for a great tour guide to with Israel Maven The jansenistas, reviving the doctrine of Augustine of Hippo, were opposed to the mill, the positions of the Jesuit Luis de Molina, accusing him of heresy pelagian recover, by denying the due punishment of infants not baptized, and accusing the scholastic theology of incurring pelagian for preaching in their existence. The confrontation between Augustine and jansenistas one hand, and Jesuit scholastics on the other end when Pius VI condemned the jansenismo not to defend the Augustinian theory, but by declaring heretical doctrine of limbo, so definitely the right setting for theologians to defend as much as the San Agustin (Denzinger: 1526).
Since then, the doctrine of limbo has been the creek by the church regularly, although not present in the Roman Catechism of Trent, which runs for four centuries, expressing the Augustinian doctrine. Catechisms popular in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, as the father of Ripalda, refer to the limbo of children as one of “the hell”, next to purgatory, limbo of the patriarchs and the hell of the damned. Modern catechisms, as in Baltimore, do not make mention of his name, but unlike the Catechism of Trent, describe or speculate about a use for the dead children without baptism (to “somewhere like the Limbo of Patriarchs “says the Baltimore Catechism).
The current Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992), summary of official church doctrine, said on this subject: Regarding the dead children without Baptism, the Church can only entrust them to God’s mercy, as in the rite of the funeral for them. Indeed, the great mercy of God who wants all men be saved and the tenderness of Jesus with the children, which made him say: “Let the children come to me, do not hinder” (Mk 10 14), we can be confident that there is a way of salvation for children who die without baptism. This makes it even more urgent call of the Church not to prevent young children come to Christ through the gift of holy Baptism.