Limbo and Pope St. Zosimus's Tractoria
People seem to think Limbo has been erased from Catholic teaching. Not so, it is of Apostolic origin. As St. Augustin says :
St. Augustine, Letter to Jerome, (415AD), Letter 166:
"
Wherefore whosoever tells us that any man can be made alive in the
resurrection of the dead otherwise than in Christ, he is to be detested
as a pestilent enemy to the common faith. Likewise, whosoever says that those children who depart out of this life without partaking of that sacrament [of Baptism] shall be made alive in Christ, certainly contradicts the apostolic declaration, and condemns the universal Church, in
which it is the practice to lose no time and run in haste to administer
baptism to infant children, because it is believed, as an indubitable
truth, that otherwise they cannot be made alive in Christ. Now he
that is not made alive in Christ must necessarily remain under the
condemnation, of which the apostle says, that "by the offence of one
judgment came upon all men to condemnation." Romans 5:18 That infants
are born under the guilt of this offence is believed by the whole
Church."
Augustine seems pretty sure it is a teaching from the Apostles thus making it "of the Faith" --de fide, so to attack it is to attack the Faith itself. Below we will deal with the commission who seems to ignore the Apostolic teaching and the authority of Councils and Popes.
The following statements regarding The Hope of Salvation for Infants Who Die Without Being Baptized by the International Theological Commission, source: vatican.va
:
"#3....Moreover, the notion that infants who die without Baptism are deprived of the beatific vision, which has for so long been regarded as the common doctrine of the Church,....The necessary reconsideration of the theological issues cannot ignore the tragic consequences of original sin. Original sin implies a state of separation from Christ, and that excludes the possibility of the vision of God for those who die in that state."
"#35. a) The Pelagian understanding of the access of unbaptised infants to “eternal life” must be considered as contrary to Catholic faith."
Pelagians thought that one only loses heaven by actual sin so they denied Original Sin. As Pohle-Preuss taught about Pelagianism:"[M]an can merit Heaven and attain to absolute sinlessness by his own free
volition, unaided and without transcending his natural faculties.”[1916, pp. 218-219.]
But many today, wrongly with good intentions, think that infants that are aborted go directly to heaven. We are sympathetic to the intentions but it isn't accomplishing any good because it is false, mainly promoted by well intentioned clerics, who were trick in seminary, by bad theology.
"#40. In summary: the affirmation that infants who die without Baptism suffer the privation of the beatific vision has long been the common doctrine of the Church"
"#41. Therefore, besides the theory of Limbo (which remains a possible theological opinion)"
It contradicts the well established Apostolic tradition that unbaptized babies cannot be saved by this conclusion:
"#102. ....Our conclusion is that the many factors that we have considered above give serious theological and liturgical grounds for hope that unbaptized infants who die will be saved and enjoy the Beatific Vision."
Of course this document isn't infallible, it even contradicts itself. (see underlined parts of lines #35 and #102). It says that the Pelagian understanding of salvation for infants is contrary to the Catholic Faith, then turns around and says it is possible to hope that they can be saved??
