Limbo doctrinal cheat sheet

Here is a handy list of teachings related to Limbo (sorry no time for a full article this will have to do for now):

Pope Eugene IV, Council of Florence, Session 11, Feb. 4, 1442, de fide: “Regarding children, indeed, because of danger of death, which can often take place, when no help can be brought to them by another remedy than through the sacrament of baptism, through which they are snatched from the domination of the Devil [original sin] and adopted among the sons of God, it advises that holy baptism ought not be deferred for forty or eighty days, or any time according to the observance of certain people…” (Denz. 712)

Council of Lyons II “…The souls of those who die in mortal sin or with ORIGINAL SIN ONLY, HOWEVER, IMMEDIATELY DESCEND TO HELL, TO BE PUNISHED WITH DIFFERENT PUNISHMENTS…-- (Denzinger 464)

Council of Florence: “…Moreover, 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.— (Denzinger 693)

Pope St. Innocent, 414: “But that which Your Fraternity asserts the Pelagians preach, THAT EVEN WITHOUT THE GRACE OF BAPTISM INFANTS ARE ABLE TO BE ENDOWED WITH THE REWARDS OF ETERNAL LIFE, is quite idiotic.” (Jurgens, The Faith of the Early Fathers, Vol. 3: 2016.)

St. Augustine, Letter to Jerome, 415: “Anyone who would say that even infants who pass from this life without participation in the Sacrament [of Baptism] shall be made alive in Christ TRULY GOES COUNTER TO THE PREACHING OF THE APOSTLE AND CONDEMNS THE WHOLE CHURCH, where there is great haste in baptizing infants because it is believed without doubt that there is no other way at all in which they can be made alive in Christ.” (Faith of the Early Fathers, Vol. 3:1439)



Pope Pius VI, Auctorem fidei, Aug. 28, 1794:
“26. The doctrine which rejects as a Pelagian fable, that place of the lower regions (WHICH THE FAITHFUL GENERALLY DESIGNATE BY THE NAME OF THE LIMBO OF THE CHILDREN) in which the souls of those departing with the sole guilt of original sin are punished with the punishment of the condemned, exclusive of the punishment of fire, just as if, by this very fact, that these who remove the punishment of fire introduced that middle place and state free of guilt and of punishment between the kingdom of God and eternal damnation, such as that about which the Pelagians idly talk” – CONDEMNED AS FALSE, RASH, INJURIOUS TO CATHOLIC SCHOOLS. (Denz. 1596)

Pope Martin V, Council of Constance, Session 15, July 6, 1415 - Condemning the articles of John Wyclif - Proposition 6: “Those who claim that the children of the faithful dying without sacramental baptism will not be saved, are stupid and presumptuous in saying this.”- CONDEMNED (Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, Vol. 1, p. 422.)

(Unfortunately, this proposition is not found in Denzinger, John Wyclif was anathematized for this assertion.)


Pope St. Zosimus, The Council of Carthage, Canon on Sin and Grace, 417 A.D.-
“It has been decided likewise that if anyone says that for this reason the Lord said: ‘In my Father’s house there are many mansions’ [John 14:2]: that it might be understood that in the kingdom of heaven there WILL BE SOME MIDDLE PLACE OR SOME PLACE ANYWHERE WHERE THE BLESSED INFANTS LIVE WHO DEPARTED FROM THIS LIFE WITHOUT BAPTISM, WITHOUT WHICH THEY CANNOT ENTER INTO THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, WHICH IS LIFE ETERNAL, let him be anathema.” (Denzinger 102.)

Pope Paul III, The Council of Trent, On Original Sin, Session V, de fide: “If anyone says that recently born babies should not be baptized even if they have been born to baptized parents; or says that they are indeed baptized for the remission of sins, but incur no trace of the original sin of Adam NEEDING TO BE CLEANSED BY THE LAVER OF REBIRTH FOR THEM TO OBTAIN ETERNAL LIFE, with the necessary consequence that in their case there is being understood a form of baptism for the remission of sins which is not true, but false: let him be anathema.” (Denz. 791)




Pope St. Siricius, 385, [Concerning the necessity of baptism] “Therefore just as we declare that respect for the Easter sacrifice [Paschal time] should not be lessened in the case of any person, in like manner we wish help to be brought WITH ALL SPEED TO CHILDREN WHO BECAUSE OF THEIR AGE CANNOT YET SPEAK, AND TO THOSE WHO IN ANY EMERGENCY ARE IN NEED OF THE WATER OF HOLY BAPTISM, lest it should lead to the destruction of our souls IF, BY REFUSING THE WATER OF SALVATION TO THOSE WHO DESIRE IT, EACH OF THEM, WHEN TAKING LEAVE OF THIS WORLD, SHOULD LOSE BOTH THE KINGDOM AND LIFE. Indeed whoever suffers the peril of shipwreck, an enemy attack, the danger of siege or desperation resulting from some bodily infirmity, and so asks for what in their faith is their only help, let them receive at the moment of their request the reward of regeneration that they beg for. This much should suffice for my digression on this subject; now let all priests who do not wish to be wrenched from the firmly-fixed rock of the apostles, on which Christ built his universal church, hold fast to the aforesaid rule.” (Latin found in Denzinger-Schonmetzer, Latin Edition, 1962, no. 184; an English Translation found in The Christian Faith, Sixth Revised and Enlarged Edition, Staten Island, NY: Alba House, 1996, p. 540.)





Pope Sixtus V in his Constitution Effrænatam (1588) on abortion:

“For who would not detest a crime as execrable as this — a crime whose consequence is that not just bodies, but — still worse! — even souls, are, as it were, cast away? The soul of the unborn infant bears the imprint of God's image! It is a soul for whose redemption Christ our Lord shed His precious blood, a soul capable of eternal blessedness and destined for the company of angels! WHO, THEREFORE, WOULD NOT CONDEMN AND PUNISH WITH THE UTMOST SEVERITY THE DESECRATION COMMITTED BY ONE WHO HAS EXCLUDED SUCH A SOUL FROM THE BLESSED VISION OF GOD? Such a one has done all he or she could possibly have done to prevent this soul from reaching the place prepared for it in heaven, and has deprived God of the service of this His own creature.” 
(also not in the Denzinger)

The Holy Office (now the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith) in 1958 provided as follows:

"The practice has arisen in some places of delaying the conferring of Baptism for so-called reasons of convenience or of a liturgical nature--a practice favored by some opinions, lacking solid foundation, concerning the eternal salvation of infants who die without Baptism.

Therefore this Supreme Congregation, with the approval of the Holy Father, warns the faithful that infants are to be baptized as soon as possible. . . . Pastors and preachers are exhorted to urge the fulfillment of this obligation." (Apostolicae Sedis, L, 114)