Aborting Limbo

 I overheard a remark not long ago, wherein the discussion, which was carried on by two members of the Vatican II sect, centered on abortion. The one person had remarked that although abortion was murder, at least the aborted babies were safely in Heaven. There was no elaboration as to how they get to Heaven, but this perverse remark is now the de facto position of the Vatican II sect. It began when Ratzinger, as "Pope" Benedict XVI, decided to push the heresy of universal salvation further along. In April of 2007, The International Theological Commission, a committee of 30 Modernist theologians who advise the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (the Modernist version of the Holy Office), issued a document entitled The Hope of Salvation for Infants Who Die Without Being Baptized. 

 This document, although called "non-authoritative," was signed by the so-called "Pope" Benedict. Ironically, it gives the theological justification needed for direct abortion and in vitro fertilization, wherein many newly fertilized human beings are simply "discarded" like trash. It is true that Limbo, the state of those who die in Original Sin only, is not a dogma of the Faith. You can deny Limbo and you would not thereby be a heretic. However, the problems with the "elimination" of Limbo are both many and serious.

What the True Church Teaches

• Every human being (except the human nature of Our Lord, and the Most Blessed Virgin Mary) is born in the state of Original Sin, which is primarily the deprivation of Sanctifying Grace. (See theologian Ott, Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, [1954], pg. 110)

• The only means of obtaining salvation is by entering the Catholic Church and dying in the state of Grace. (See theologian Tanquerey, Manual of Dogmatic Theology,1:138)

• Membership in the Church is effectuated in the ordinary way by the Sacrament of Baptism, by which all stain of Original Sin and (in the case of those who have attained to the age of reason), all actual sins are remitted and Sanctifying Grace is infused in the soul. (See Ott, op. cit. pgs. 309-311)

• By extraordinary means, a person can enter inside the Church and receive Sanctifying Grace by Baptism of Desire (BOD) or Baptism of Blood (BOB).(See Ott, Ibid, pgs.356-357)

• Infants, the habitually insane, and the retarded, who are deprived of reason are incapable of receiving BOD. As Pope Pius XII taught, "In the present economy there is no other way of communicating this life to the child who has not yet the use of reason. But, nevertheless, the state of grace at the moment of death is absolutely necessary for salvation. Without it, it is not possible to attain supernatural happiness, the beatific vision of God. An act of love can suffice for an adult to obtain sanctifying grace and supply for the absence of Baptism; for the unborn child or for the newly born, this way is not open..." (See Address to the Congress of the Italian Catholic Association of Midwives [Oct. 29, 1951] Emphasis mine). 

• Infants and those deprived of reason can receive BOB. (Ott, Ibid, pg. 357)

• Sanctifying Grace becomes "lumen gloriae" ("the light of glory") upon the soul's separation from the body and entrance into Heaven, thereby allowing the soul to enter the Beatific Vision of God for all eternity. (Ott, Ibid, pg. 22)

• Those who die without Sanctifying Grace due to mortal sin go to Hell for eternity. (Ott, Ibid,pgs. 479-481)

• There are different punishments for those who go to Hell due to Original Sin alone. (Ott, Ibid, pg. 114)

• Hell consists in two punishments: poena damni (pain of separation), and poena sensus (the pain of sense). (Ibid)

• Those who die in Original Sin alone are subject to the separation from God, but not the positive infliction of pain (Hell fire) This conclusion, which is taught by nearly every theologian in the past eight hundred years, is in accordance with a pronouncement of Pope Innocent III (III Decr. 42:3): "The punishment of original sin is the deprivation of the vision of God; of actual sin, the eternal pains of hell."

• "Limbo" means "edge"--those who are on the "edge of Hell," meaning those least worthy of punishment. 

What the Document Signed By Ratzinger Teaches

• The implication of universal salvation is present no less than twelve times, in paragraphs #4, 6, 7, 8, 33, 43, 46, 52, 54, 57, 67, and 69.

• To give but two examples, "It [prayer] is based on the hope that the whole creation will finally share in the glory of God (cf. Rom 8:22-27). Such a prayer is in line with St. John Chrysostom’s admonition: 'Imitate God. If he wants all to be saved, then it is reasonable that one should pray for all.'" (Para. #69). "Rising from the dead (cf. Rom 6:9) he [Christ] sent his life-giving Spirit upon his disciples and through him set up his Body which is the Church as the universal sacrament of salvation' (Lumen Gentium 48). What is striking in these quotations is the universal extent of the Church’s mediating role in ministering God’s salvation: 'the unity among all men', 'salvation of [all] men', 'universal sacrament of salvation.'" (Para. #57)

• "Pope" Paul VI has a funeral "mass" for unbaptized babies for the first time in 1970. (Para. #5)

• It borrows from the heretical universal salvation teachings of Fr. Hans Urs von Balthasar.

• Specifically cited in the document are the teachings of arch-heretics Fr. Karl Rahner, and Fr. Jacques Dupuis 

• Bottom line: Infants who have not been baptized go to Heaven because they have not committed any personal sins. They are not deprived of the Beatific Vision of God because everyone is entitled (!) to salvation.

No Rupture From The Past Teaching?

• It is an implicit denial of Original Sin

• It undermines the necessity of Baptism. According to theologian Prummer, "Children of Catholic parents should be baptized at the earliest possible moment. Leo XIII fiercely condemned the postponing of Baptism of children" (See theologian Prummer, Handbook of Moral Theology, pg. 257)

• Pope Sixtus V taught in a 1588 Constitution that victims of abortion, being deprived of Baptism, are "excluded from Beatific Vision," hence abortion is a most grievous offense.

• Pope Pius VI, in a formal magisterial decree, denounced the rejection of Limbo as "false, rash, and slanderous to Catholic schools [of theological thought]." 

Practical Consequences for Today

 Let me first say that some pre-Vatican II theologians did formulate certain teachings in place of limbo; although their number was very few. The most famous was Cajetan, who taught that infants could be saved by a "vicarious baptism of desire" through the prayers and desire of the parents. This teaching was ordered to be redacted from his writings by Pope St. Pius V. Theologian Klee taught that God would illuminate the intellect of the child just before the moment of death, and give him/her an opportunity to accept or reject Him, in a manner similar to the test given to the angels. Theologian Schell taught that the child's sufering and death served as a "baptism of suffering." Neither of those theories has any support in Revelation, and were basically rebuffed definitively by Pope Pius VI and the unanimous consent of the theologians, especially after Trent.

  Abortion is a crime against humanity. It is the systematic murder of babies. To give a woman the idea that if she aborts a baby, the child will be in eternal bliss, would only push her in the direction of abortion. I've asked some acquaintances who were "born again" Christians, "If you can't lose your salvation as long as you believe in Christ, why not commit suicide and go to Heaven right away?" They could never give a satisfactory answer except to say "God doesn't want that." I would say, "Yes, but you go to Heaven anyway." That is basically what the "pro-life" Modernist Vatican is pushing on people: God doesn't want abortion or in vitro fertilization, but if you do it, the murdered children go to Heaven anyway.  To those who think that aborted babies can received BOB by a kind of "martyrdom," this is totally false. BOB necessitates that the child is killed out of hatred for the Faith or some teaching of the Faith.

 When fighting abortion it is of the utmost importance we declare that both their earthly life and eternal salvation with God in the Beatific Vision will be lost. Yes, they go to Hell (in the broad sense of the term), as they are separated from God. They are in a place or state not subject to the pain of sense or torture from demons, and probably a small degree of consolation. But they have not reached the eternal destination for which all humans were created. Abortion is not some "ticket to Heaven." Heretical ideas have the most horrible of consequences.