Xlviii. Of The Place Of Those Who Are Not Judged, Viz., Of The Limbo Of Infants
XLVIII. OF THE PLACE OF THOSE WHO ARE NOT JUDGED, VIZ., OF THE LIMBO OF INFANTS
(A)
Are there any human beings who at the moment of death are not judged?
Yes. All children who die before attaining the age of reason, or those who though adults never had the use of reason (LXIX. 6).
Is there any allotment at all as regards infants and those who have not had the use of reason?
Yes, but this is not by reason of their merits or demerits; and it is not made by way of judgment. It comes about by the fact that some have received baptism and others have not. Those that have received baptism immediately go to heaven; whereas those who have not received this sacrament go to a place reserved for them which is called Limbo.
(B)
Is Limbo distinct from Purgatory and hell?
Yes, because these two latter are places where punishment is inflicted for personal sins (LXIX. 6).
Do infants who have died without baptism suffer the pain of loss in Limbo?
Yes, to a certain degree, for they know they are deprived of the vision of God; but this has not the character of torture such as those in hell suffer (Appendix, 1. 2).
Whence arises this difference as regards the pain of loss?
It comes from this, that although they know they are deprived of the vision of God, they also know that this is not by reason of any personal sin but by reason of their being born of Adam, who sinned (ibid.).
For them, then, there is no horrible worm that gnaws their souls such as torments the damned in hell?
No. But they live in a state without any kind of suffering or sadness, except that they are conscious of that supreme happiness which would have been theirs had the merits of the redemption been applied to them and which they will never have, not by any fault on their part but because the inscrutable counsels of God have arranged it so (ibid.).
(C)
Do the souls of these infants know the mysteries of the redemption?
Most certainly.
Have they the light of faith?
No, they have not faith in the sense of that interior supernatural light perfecting the mind whereby in a certain intimate manner it penetrates revealed mysteries and generates in the soul a strong desire towards them; they know these mysteries very much in the same way as those who cannot help but assent to the truth of the divine mysteries revealed by God, but who are not drawn by an impulse of grace to cling supernaturally to these mysteries, and as a consequence they do not penetrate the intimate meaning of them.
(D)
Besides this Limbo of the souls of children who die before baptism, is not mention made of another Limbo in the language of the Church?
Yes, it is that Limbo where formerly the just were detained, that is, those in whom there was no personal hindrance as regards entrance into heaven, but who had to await the coming of the Redeemer (LXIX. 7).
Is there anyone now in this Limbo of the just?
Since the day when Jesus Christ at the moment of His death descended there and left it on the day of His Resurrection, bringing with Him all the souls of the just, this place ceased to be occupied by those for whom it was primarily destined; but it may be that since then it is the place where children go who die without baptism, so in this case it would be the same as the Limbo of infants.