NationStates Jolt Archive

Catholics disturbed by the idea that unbaptised or aborted children are left in Limbo and never reach Heaven need worry no more - it seems Pope Benedict XVI will approve of a catechism of the International Theological Commission that declares that limbo doesn't exist after all. It turns out the Catholic Church was wrong for the last 800 years, and unbaptised and aborted children will go to Heaven after all. Apparently they decided this after discussions with Jewish and Muslim leaders, who argued that descendents of Adam must commit sin (other than Original Sin) in order to go to Hell, and otherwise they go to Heaven.

As an atheist, I find it quite amusing that a major world religion can suddenly decide that it was wrong about the Afterlife - didn't God think of telling the Pope?

More on Limbo:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limbo

More on this story:
http://www.oxfordpress.com/business/content/shared/news/stories/LIMBO_1202_COX.html
http://www.postchronicle.com/chronic/archives/2005/12/pope_no_limbo_f.shtml
http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=81031

Wasn't limbo a party game?

Limbo was never a doctrine. It's been a theory for a long time, for a while an accepted theory, then just a favored theory, and since the 1800s it's been falling out of favor. You can look through all the Church documents you want, but you won't find Limbo as a doctrine.

I never saw the point in worrying about Limbo. I think I can trust God to make the after-life decisions.

Wasn't limbo a party game?
Erm, yes... and it probably is halfway betwen Heaven and Hell.

Limbo was never a doctrine. It's been a theory for a long time, for a while an accepted theory, then just a favored theory, and since the 1800s it's been falling out of favor. You can look through all the Church documents you want, but you won't find Limbo as a doctrine.

Perhaps, it was never a doctrine, but little Catholic boys and girls were taught that Limbo was a fact. All I can say is God bless them for it because it never made sense to me and forced me to think about spiritual matter and investigate on my own, which then allowed me to find the next step.

I never actually heard someone use the limbo argument in a arbortion debate before. It seems like a strong(if fictious) deterrent. I actuallyfirst heard about the concept in the Others . Kidman scares her kids with it.;)