Infants Who Die Without Baptism

Recently, I was made aware of a friend whose grandchild was stillborn.  His grief for his daughter's loss and the personal loss of his grandson is without comfort.  Words fail to describe the depth of suffering those who lose infants and children to death experience.  We can only intercede for them to the Lord Jesus asking that He console them with His Grace and Love.  We mourn with them and keep close to them in spirit and prayer.

As I spoke to my friend, he asked me what the Church has to say about infants who die without ever having been baptized?  What happens to them?

The Lord Jesus tells us that we come into the world in a state of sin which requires us being "born again by water and the Holy Spirit" in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven (John 3:5).  Saint Paul is quite explicit as he teaches about the necessity for sacramental rebirth since humanity is born being burdened by the sin of Adam (Romans 5: 12ff),

The Church teaches that the means of sacramental rebirth are not available after death.  Consequently, those who die without Baptism would seem to be eternally excluded from the supernatural happiness of the Beatific Vision (decrees from various Ecumenical Councils including the Council of Lyons II (1274 AD), the Council of Florence (1439 AD) and the Council of Trent (1563 AD).

However, there is an absence of clear positive revelation either from the Scriptures or Sacred Tradition of the Church which addresses the question of what happens to those who die in infancy or before having attained the use of reason and so who are incapable of personal sinfulness.

Over the course of centuries, the Church taught that these particular souls would enjoy a state of perpetual natural happiness but forever would be deprived of the bliss of the Beatific Vision.  This is what the Church means when it refers to the "state of limbo".

In modern times, this teaching has undergone a number of theological and pastoral refinements.

In the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, the Council Fathers of Vatican II declare:  "Since Christ died for all, and since all men are in fact called to one and the same destiny, we must hold that the Holy Spirit offers to all the possibility of being made partakers, in a way known to God, of the Pascal Mystery" (Gaudiam et Spes, Paragraph 5).  The Church teaches, therefore, that every person, who is ignorant of the Gospel of Christ and the Church but seeks the truth and does the will of God in accord with his personal understanding of it, can be saved (The Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 1260).  This teaching has commonly been referred to as "the baptism of desire".

As regards infants and those who have not attained the use of reason, the Church's contemporary teaching is contained in the following instruction:  "...the Church can only entrust them to the mercy of God, as she does in her funeral rites for them.  Indeed, the great mercy of God Who desires that all should be saved as well as Jesus' tenderness toward children allows us to hope that there is a way to salvation for children and infants who die without Baptism.  All the more urgent is the Church's call not to prevent little children coming to Christ through the gift of Baptism" (The Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 1261).

In light of the fact that so many infants, particularly the millions of unborn children who are victims of abortion, have died without Baptism, this teaching is especially fitting and poignant.  We can pray and hope that Our Heavenly Father Who is Love will grant those unjustly or prematurely deprived of earthly life the opportunity of enjoying His Presence in eternity.

May the Lord receive their souls into Heaven and comfort the parents, family and friends who mourn their deaths with His Grace and Peace.