Celebrating 100 years
in Irondequoit
Clustered Worship Sites:
Individual Worship Sites:
Irondequoit Catholic Communities:
If, as the Church professes, baptism is necessary for salvation (see John 3:5), what can be said of the salvation of those who die without baptism? This theological question has been pondered for centuries. Briefly, Catholic teaching holds that, in the case of adults, there are two possibilities: (1) baptism of blood or martyrdom and (2) baptism of desire. In the case of infants, a rather common theological opinion has been that infants who die without baptism are excluded from heaven but spend eternity in a state of natural happiness called Limbo. This theological explanation has never been explicitly taught by the Church. Another fairly common theological explanation has been that God in his mercy can supply for the lack of baptism in a way that has not been revealed to us. In a document from the Vatican's Congregation of the Faith in 1980, it is said that the Church "knows no other way apart from baptism for ensuring children's entry into eternal happiness"; but in regard to children who die without baptism, the Church "can only entrust them to the mercy of God, as she does in the funeral rite provided for them."
