Letters

Unbaptised infants

Lawrence R. Hurley

Contents - Dec 2007 - Buy a copy now Editorial: Liturgy: light at the end of the tunnel - Michael Gilchrist Liturgy: Australian archbishops report progress with new English Mass translations - Michael Gilchrist News: The Church Around the World Schools: The state of Catholic education: teacher and student experiences - Br Barry Coldrey Catechetics: Religious education in Catholic schools: the role of parish priests - Michael Gilchrist Church History: Interesting aspects of ecumenical councils - Frank Mobbs Britain: British Catholicism: the salt has lost its flavour - John Haldane 1962 Missal: Australian bishops support Benedict XV's liberalising of the Latin Mass - AD2000 Report Architecture: Did Vatican II recommend the removal of altar rails? - M. Cassey Letters: Dissent - Brian Bibby Letters: Far-sightedness of Father Purcell - Fr Brian Harrison OS Letters: Response - Don Gaffney Letters: Narrow way - F. Thims Letters: Latin Mass - Carol V. Phillips Letters: Pope's Masses - Paul Martin Letters: True Church - Peter D. Howard Letters: Homosexual 'marriage' - Arnold Jago Letters: Unbaptised infants - Lawrence R. Hurley Letters: Archaeology - Ann Marie Streda Events: Latin Masses for Christmas in Caulfield and Kew Books: JESUS, THE APOSTLES AND THE EARLY CHURCH by Pope Benedict XVI - Tim Cannon (reviewer) Books: THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD AND WOMEN by Sara Butler MSBT - Paul Woodbury (reviewer) Books: Books available from AD Books Reflection: May we deepen our longing for the Lord's coming - Bishop Arthur Serratelli

In an earlier letter (February AD2000) I stated that the question as to the salvation of unbaptised infants had been referred to a theological commission whose advice had not then been issued.

On 20 April the International Theological Commission published its document entitled 'The hope of salvation for infants who die without being baptised', a lengthy document of 27 pages, which is well summarised in an Inside the Vatican interview with a member of the Commission, the American nun, Sr Sara Butler MSBT.

The Commission's document is said to have 'sparked a lot of controversy' but 'is trying to say what the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 1260, 1261, 1283) has already said: that we have a right to hope that God will find a way to offer the grace of Christ' to such infants, and 'trying to provide a theological rationale for what has already been proposed in several magisterial documents since the Council.'

In paragraph 37 of the document a line from the Council of Lyons II is cited: 'as for the souls of those who die in mortal sin or with original sin only, they go down immediately to hell to be punished with different punishments'. It says that these magisterial statements do not oblige us to think that these infants die with the stain of original sin for the reason that 'the focus was not on the destiny of unbaptised infants who die but on when the soul was judged'.

This would also apply to the same statement of the Council of Florence. Also, 'the affirmation that infants who die without Baptism suffer the privation of the beatific vision has long been the common doctrine of the Church, which must be distinguished from the faith of the Church' (paragraph 40).

Finally, Sister Butler says: 'The report concludes that Limbo remains a 'possible theological opinion.' Anyone who defends it is free to do so.'

I make no comment about the foregoing or the other contents of the report, especially as space does not permit me to do so, but I hope some of your other readers will do so, particularly as it is strange that no comment has been made in AD2000 on the document despite the considerable correspondence in the September 2006 to December 2006/January 2007 issues.

LAWRENCE R. HURLEY
Cooroy, Qld

Reprinted from AD2000 Vol 20 No 11 (December 2007 - January 2008), p. 15