IN LIMBO

Rome to rule on fate of unbaptised infants
In one of the most celebrated passages of the Divine Comedy, Dante enters a twilight zone between the earth and the underworld. Perched “upon the brink of grief’s abysmal valley”, Virgil tells the poet that they are in limbo (from the Latin for “border”), the resting place of those who have not sinned, but are condemned to hell because they died before Christ or without the mark of baptism. The description that follows lodged limbo — till then a rather abstruse theological concept — firmly in the Western imagination. Even today, when belief in the afterlife has declined, limbo retains a place in common parlance. And yet, despite popular belief to the contrary, the Church has never insisted that Catholics believe in limbo. Its very existence remains a matter of theological opinion.
The Pope may be about to change all that. As we report this week, John Paul has asked the body that advises the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith to re-examine traditional Catholic teaching on the matter. He urged the members of the International Theological Commission to find “a more coherent and enlightened way” of expressing the fate of unbaptised babies.
The theologians will surely take their cue from the Catechism, which argues that Jesus’s love of children is a reason to hope that infants who have died without the sacrament may be saved. The Commission would also do well to study Dante. Although his description of limbo sounds harsh to modern ears, it is, in fact, tinged with sympathy. The inhabitants live in a seven-sided castle (seven being the number of perfection) and their dwelling is encompassed by a “hemisphere of light” (representing the power of reason). Catholics must hope that the Church can find an even more generous way of expressing the eternal state of little ones who died before they could pass through the waters of baptism.