Deeper in Limbo

Fraters reader Mike does more than skim read the headlines. He reads the articles and he writes in with this limbo-related correction.

I'd like to make a correction to the Philadelphia Inquirer story you linked to yesterday. I quote

"In effect, this means all children who die go to heaven," said an unidentified commission member cited in European newspapers."

BZZZZZZ - Not the little bastards who walk into schools and shoot their fellow students. I know the quote is intended to mean children who have yet to be baptized, but just to clarify, children are fully capable of sin.

Also found this interesting.

"The notion of limbo began to fade after the Second Vatican Council of 1962-65, which - while reaffirming the need for baptism and the primacy of the Catholic Church - allowed that anyone who "seeks the truth and does the will of God in accordance with his understanding of it can be saved."

Send that one over to the Muslims so they might begin to understand the Christian definition of tolerance.

Good points there. We eagerly await Mike's reaction to the rumored forthcoming Papal comments on the hokey pokey.

Interesting to note the Inquirer themselves have posted a correction on this story since it was published yesterday:

This article about the notion of limbo within the Catholic Church erred in stating that priests had urged the mother of the Rev. Daniel Doyle to carry her pregnancy to term after she learned that her fetus had died. She was urged to do so by her doctors.

So it wasn't voo-doo afterall, it was science! I'm sure the writer is properly chagrined.

And I'd add a further nitpick over this comment by writer David O'Reilly:

Benedict's expected assurances that the souls of stillborn and unbaptized children go to heaven is likely to prove appealing in countries with high infant mortality.

Catholicism is growing faster in Africa than on any other continent, but is competing there with Islam - which has always taught that babies who die are assured a place in paradise.

The article ends with those paragraphs and the reader is left with the impression that the disavowal of the 1,500-year-old concept of limbo by the Catholic Church is some sort of advertising scheme to take market share aware from the Muslims. Who are the ad wizards who came up with this one!? [Seinfeld reference.]

Of course, I'd expect nothing more from coverage of religion by the superficial, quizzical MSM in this country. As always in this modern age, the alternative press provides options. Check the "Higher Calling" section on the left-hand side of this fine blog. Best of the bunch I've seen lately, Zenit.