It is an article of the Apostles Creed that our Lord descended into hell or limbo, meaning that His first act after his death was to carry the joyful news of their redemption to the just souls imprisoned there. These souls who died before Christ redeemed the world were awaiting the time of their redemption and the opening of heaven. Some such place was necessary since heaven was closed for thousands of years by the sin of Adam and Eve. His mission was to comfort the souls there and to set them free for entrance into heaven. This was also to show His power and majesty
“That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth…” (Phil. 2:10).
Limbo of the Fathers is considered to have been a place of rest and joy, although the joy was imperfect as contrasted with heaven. Some also believe that Christ also preached to the soul in purgatory, interpreting the text of 1 Peter 3:18-19 – For Christ also died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit; 19 in which he went and preached to the spirits in prison…
The Limbo of the Infants means that those who die with only original sin on their souls cannot reach the beatific vision. This has been plainly stated in the Second Council of Lyon (AD 1274) in the Profession of Faith, and the Council of Florence (AD 1439) in the Decree for the Greeks. But since there is a natural repugnance to the belief that those who have committed no sin should be tortured in hell, theologians have adopted various theories to account for souls in this state.
St. Bernard thought that such infants might be saved by the faith of their parents, that God might be pleased to supply baptism in this way. Some thought that the lack of baptism might be supplied by the wish for the sacrament on the part of the parents. The majority of theologians, including St. Thomas Aquinas thought that infants dying in original sin suffer no “pain of sense,” but are simply excluded from heaven. St. Gregory Nazianzen agreed with this. As St. Thomas puts it, such infants do not suffer because the pain of punishment comes only from personal guilt, of which there is none. They do not grieve because they do not see God. In addition, that they rejoice because they share in God’s goodness and in many natural perfections. They know and love God by use of their natural powers.
The existence of Limbo for infants has never been defined by the Church, although it is a common belief within the Church. Those who scoffed at it have been censured. Pius VI thus condemned the Jansenist Council of Pietoria.
According to God’s universal salvific will, we believe that somehow He gives each and every person the opportunity of reaching heaven. There is such a thing as the “baptism of desire,” defined by the Council of Trent, but this assumes sufficient mental maturity to make an act of faith and love of God. The Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, II, 16, states: There are people who are in ignorance of Christ’s Gospel and of his Church through no fault of their own, and who search for God in sincerity of heart; they attempt to put into practice the recognition of his will that they have reached through the dictate of conscience. They do so under the influence of divine grace; they can attain everlasting salvation”. By implication, their children who die before the age of reason can also be saved.Who is to say that at the moment of death God does not provide the soul of a child without personal sin the opportunity of salvation? We must simply trust in the infinite mercy of God.