Does the Roman Catholic Church still believe in Limbo?
The idea of ‘Limbo’ was never an official doctrine of the Catholic Church; it was a theological notion invented in the middle ages as a corollary to St. Augustine’s doctrine of original sin. The medieval doctors were concerned (as many Christians are today) over the problem of innocents suffering the torments of hell merely for not being converted by baptism in life. They decided that part of hell had to be reserved for souls who, though separated from God, are innocent of evil and therefore do not suffer torment. Thomas Aquinas wrote that souls in Limbo even experience a sort of joy: not the joy of beatific vision, but a “virture is its own reward” kind of joy. There was never any scriptural or prophetic justification for this; it was mere wishful thinking–an assumption that God would not condemn innocents, especially innocent children, to eternal torment. In 2007 the International Theological Commission released a study that concluded (among other things) that there are “serious the
Limbo was never part of our Sacred Tradition. These are the things that NEVER change. You would have to know the Christian Faith to know these things, so I understand your misreading of Limbo. Pope Benedict XVI is the successor of Saint Peter who received the delegated AUthority of the Church through Jesus. Jesus delegated this authority by handing Saint Peter the Keys to the Kingdom to bound or loose sins. No magic needed, when Jesus our Christ delegates authentic Authority.
