In mediaeval Christian theology, the abode of souls excluded from the full blessedness of the divine vision, but not condemned to any other punishment. They included unbaptised infants and Old Testament prophets.
For other uses of the term, see Limbo (disambiguation).In religious terminology, limbo is the temporary status of the souls of good persons who died but did not go to Heaven. In Roman Catholic theology, while awaiting the Resurrection of Jesus they remain in the Limbo of the Fathers. The word limbo has also been used to refer to the permanent status of the unbaptized who die in infancy, without having committed any personal sins, but without having been freed from original sin (the Limbo of Children), though the latter use has never received official approval.
Limbo comes from the latin limbus meaning a hem or an edge or a boundary. While "limbo" is often popularly understood to be a "place where souls go", the term also describes and reflects theological uncertainty. As such, the limbo of children is not part of the Catholic religion's official doctrine (compared to purgatory, which is a part of Roman Catholic doctrine).
The Limbo of the Fathers (limbus patrum) (also known as Abraham's Bosom)
The concept of the limbo of the fathers is that people who lived good lives but died before the Resurrection did not go to heaven, but rather had to wait for Christ to open the gates of heaven. This concept of limbo affirms that one can get into heaven only through Jesus Christ but doesn't portray Moses, etc., as being punished eternally in hell.
The term limbo does not appear in the Bible. As such, this concept corresponds to the concept of limbo of the fathers in that it is neither heaven nor hell and the people there are waiting to enter paradise.
Jesus told the "good thief" that the two of them would be together "this day" in "paradise," (Luke 23:43) but between the Resurrection and the Ascension, Jesus told his followers that he has "not yet ascended to the Father" (John 20:17). By this reading, the good thief waited in limbo until the Resurrection made it possible for him to enter heaven. The Greek Fathers however, who did not accept the concept of limbo, did not see a contradiction in these two statements, and read John 20:17 as a reference to the Ascension of Jesus.
The Limbo of Children (limbus infantium or limbus puerorum)
Many Roman Catholic theologians believe that unbaptized children, as well as others lacking the use of reason, go to "the limbo of children" after death.
If heaven is a state of supernatural happiness and a union with God, and hell is a state of torture and a separation from God, then limbo is a sort of intermediate state, in which souls are denied the beatific vision, but saved from the torment of hell, according to speculations by many eminent Roman Catholic theologians. Saint Thomas Aquinas described the limbo of children as an eternal state of natural joy, untempered by any sense of loss at how much greater their joy might have been had they been baptized.
The foundational importance of the sacrament of baptism (using water) or the non-sacramental baptism of desire or baptism of blood in Roman Catholic theology gives rise to the argument that the unbaptized are not eligible for entry into heaven, because the original sin of human nature precludes the unbaptized from the beatific vision enjoyed by the souls in heaven.
Since infants are incapable of either professing their faith or performing acts of Christian charity, the only known means through which they might receive the grace of justification required for salvation is through water baptism (or baptism of blood, as in the case of the martyred Holy Innocents). As noted above, later theologians suggested that such children, being innocent of any personal sins, might go to a state of limbo outside heaven, but without the suffering of hell, enjoying a state of perfect natural happiness.
Subsequent development on the lot of unbaptized children
The necessity of baptism was defined by a general council of the church, the Council of Florence, Session 11 (Bull Cantate Domino), Feb 4, 1442, and had earlier been affirmed at the local Council of Carthage 417 AD. However, the Council of Trent, Session 6, 1547 taught that either baptism or desire for baptism is necessary for salvation, so it is possible to be saved without receiving the actual sacrament of baptism.
If adults could effectively be baptised through a desire for the sacrament (supposing they died before it was actually administered), perhaps sacramentally unbaptised infants too might be saved by some waterless equivalent of ordinary baptism. While infants would not themselves be capable of a desire for the sacrament of baptism, perhaps the desire for their baptism by the adults who were responsible for their religious upbringing (or by the Church in general) would suffice to grant such children a baptism of desire. By 1952 a theologian such as Ludwig Ott could, in a widely used and well-regarded manual, openly teach the possibility that children who die unbaptised might be saved for heaven - though he still represented their going to limbo as the commonly taught opinion. Thus by 1992 the Catechism of the Catholic Church could express the hope that children who die unbaptised might still be saved:
CCC #1261 states:
The International Theological Commission was asked by Pope John Paul II to consider the question of the fate of unbaptized babies. Under Pope Benedict XVI, the Commission is expected to recommend in their report that the doctrine that all children who die do so “in the hope of eternal salvation” be formally adopted, thus rejecting the theological hypothesis of Limbo.
Limbo in other denominations and religions
No Protestant denominations accept the concept of limbo. Since the dead, in this view, are neither rewarded nor punished (yet), that state is similar to limbo.
The Zoroastrian concept of hamistagan is similar to limbo.
Discordianism considers Limbo to be the dwelling place of the goddess Eris.
Limbo in literature
In the Divine Comedy, Dante depicts Limbo as the first circle of Hell, located beyond the river Acheron but before the judgment seat of Minos. In the same work, a semi-infernal region, above Limbo on the other side of Acheron, but inside the Gate of Hell, also exists — it is the "vestibule" of Hell and houses so-called "neutralists" or "opportunists," who devoted their lives neither to good nor to evil;
Limbo as a colloquialism
Taken from the original meaning, in colloquial speech, "limbo" is any status where a person or project is held up, and nothing can be done until another action happens.
A "legal limbo" may occur when varying laws or court rulings leave a person without recourse.
The Amstrad PCW's bundled word processing software, LocoScript, used the term "in limbo" to refer to files which had been deleted but which could still be restored, a concept similar to that later implemented by the Trash in the Apple Macintosh and, 11 years later, the Recycle Bin in Microsoft Windows 95.
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