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Not getting into this.
From the second article which he linked to, from U.S. Catholic, in an interview with a senior Catholic priest, who is a contributor to that magazine on theology (bolding mine):
tl;dr: Limbo is not currently supported doctrine by the Catholic Church, but that does not prevent many Catholics from believing in it, and it appears that the Church does not discourage Catholics from believing in it.
Part of that limbo (sorry for the pun) that Limbo is now in is that, as the articles note, in 2007, the Catholic Church issued an official document in which they presented a theological hypothesis, that there may be hope for unbaptized babies to go to Heaven. They did not come out and say, “there is no need for Limbo,” but they did present reasoning why it might not be needed.
I always pictured Limbo as being like a perpetual doctor’s waiting room. You’ve read all the magazines at least six times and they still haven’t called you in.
Hell lite.
What I was taught (early-to-mid-1950s) was that Limbo was a place of peace (“natural happiness,” as the priest put it in the article @kenobi_65 quoted): not Heaven — souls there did not bask in the divine presence — but certainly not a place of punishment. And it wasn’t limited to babies: anyone below the age of reason (the point at which an individual becomes responsible for moral choices, generally about age seven) qualified.
ETA, re Purgatory: we were constantly reminded, when faced with an unpleasant task, to “offer it up for the poor souls in Purgatory.” How raking leaves, which around here rot within five seconds of hitting the ground, was supposed to get some poor shlub out of the slammer remains a mystery to this day.
That is what’s called an “indulgence” in the Catholic Church – through prayer and doing good works, one can seek intercession for the soul of someone who has died, and is still in Purgatory, to, in essence, shorten their time in Purgatory.
Indulgences – particularly the abuse of them, by the Church selling indulgences for money – were the prime reason for Martin Luther to pen the Ninety-Five Theses, which led to the Protestant Reformation.
True — and if you looked in a prayer book of the time, each prayer listed the credit (three days for a Hail Mary, a week for the Lord’s Prayer, &c). Though how they apply to a realm which exists outside of terrestrial time is another mystery.
Abuse of indulgences were the Epstein Files of the late medieval RCC, and as such the point of Luther’s spear. But he had plenty of other issues as well.
Now back to Limbo.
Jeez, whatever happened to “As you say it shall be on earth, so shall it be in heaven”?
IOW, why didn’t (doesn’t) some pope put on his ex cathedra hat and say “babies get in free?”
You guys clearly are not up on your George Carlin. On the comedy album Class Clown he tells about the four places in the afterlife: Heaven, Hell, Purgatory and Limbo. Allow me to quote:
The weirdest of all was Limbo. Limbo was where they sent unbaptized babies. The reasoning was, “It wasn’t their fault”. Yep. Can’t see God if you’re not baptized, but you were too young to make the decision- whip 'em into Limbo. OOO! What could limbo have been, man? (makes spooky noises) “Welcome to Limboooo.” I think they’ve since canceled Limbo. I’m not completely sure, but I think when they, uh, purged a few of the saints, they called off Limbo, too, yeah. Hope they promoted everyone, sent them to Heaven, y’know. Didn’t just cut them loose in space, right..yeah.
This. I don’t know if our lots were particularly hard as kids, or we just complained a lot, but my siblings and cousins and I were told this so many times that the grown-ups eventually shortened it to “offer it up for the Poor Souls.” You could hear the capital letters, and “in Purgatory” was understood.