Catholics debate tradition about unbaptized babies

A Roman Catholic tradition that has been around since the Middle Ages may soon be no more. 
   
Limbo, the place between heaven and hell reserved for unbaptized babies, was discussed among 30 top theologians in December 2005 at the Vatican and, because it has never been an official church doctrine, could eventually be tossed aside.
   
The controversy over limbo began with St. Augustine, who believed baptism was essential for salvation and that unbaptized babies would go to a mild level of hell, according to a report by The New York Times Dec. 27. Later, in the Middle Ages, theologians devised a place called limbo, where infants would be in neither heaven nor hell but would enjoy eternal happiness.
   
“Children who die without baptism go into limbo, where they do not enjoy God, but they do not suffer either,” Pope Pius X declared in 1905.
   
But limbo, which has no scriptural basis, has long been considered harsh by many within the Catholic Church, The Times said, and even before he was pope, Benedict XVI said he would be in favor of discarding it as a church tradition.
   
“Limbo has never been a definitive truth of the faith,” then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger said in 1984. “Personally, I would let it drop, since it has always been only a theological hypothesis.”
   
The issue is particularly sensitive when connected with abortion, The Times noted, because if unborn babies are humans, then their souls must go somewhere once they are aborted. 
   
As the Catholic Church grows in popularity in places such as Africa and Asia where the infant mortality rate is high, limbo becomes an increasingly unpopular idea. Times reporter Ian Fisher reflected, “While the concerns of the experts reconsidering limbo are more theological, it does not hurt the church’s future if an African mother who has lost a baby can receive more hopeful news from her priest in 2005 than, say, an Italian mother did 100 years ago.”
   
The leaders currently considering the issue have not said what doctrine would replace limbo, and their final opinion on the subject is not expected for at least another year. (BP)