Limbo in limbo

The news from Rome this week is that The Vatican is reconsidering the doctrine of limbo—the concept that unbaptized infants and children are consigned to a happy, but not quite heavenly hereafter. Never a matter of settled doctrine, it is still a fairly major reversal on this once frequently taught idea, which was very popular in the Middle Ages.

An article in The New York Times notes that this seemingly irrelevant change in official teaching,

has some real-life consequences. The church is growing most in poor places like Africa and Asia where infant mortality remains high. While the concerns of the experts reconsidering limbo are more theological, it does not hurt the church's future if an African mother who has lost a baby can receive more hopeful news from her priest in 2005 than, say, an Italian mother did 100 years ago.

Limbo was never a part of the teaching of the Anglican (and later Episcopal) traditions or other Protestant faiths. All Christians agree that infants are in a state of grace inconsistent with the idea of unbaptized babies being destined for Hell. But for Rome, the matter is not yet settled in terms of official teaching. The commission meets again next year. In the meantime, limbo remains in, well, limbo.