How can the catholic church just scrap the concept of limbo?

The teaching of Limbo was a hypothesis -- a theory held out as a possible way to balance the Christian belief in the necessity of baptism with belief in God's mercy.

Like hypotheses in any branch of science, a theological hypothesis can be proven wrong or be set aside when it is clear it does not help explain Catholic faith.

Cheers :-)

Hello, Jenelled:

As you now know, limbo was never an official Church doctrine. But some theories did make it--like purgatory, where saints are tortured on the way to heaven.

Pope John Paul II is in Purgatory right now. You see, during WWII, when he worked for a Polish chemical company, he sold Zyglon-B nerve gas to the Nazis (Cooper: "Behold A Pale Horse").

With 6 million Jews, and one year Purgatory for each one, that's 6,000,000 years of torment--OUCH! Perhaps with a few more indulgences to get him out earlier, another St. Peters Cathedral can be build.

Blessings, One-Way

P.S. Visions of Mary substantiate Purgatory.

Limbo was never official doctrine.

Jesus said, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved." (Mark 16:15-16)

For centuries, people have wondered about children who died before they were baptized. The Bible does not explicitly state that they will go to heaven.

Limbo was suggested as the place where unbaptized babies went when they died. This idea was never official Church doctrine and has been rejected.

The Church now says that it is not sure what happens to unbaptized babies when they die but she entrusts them to the mercy of God.

With love in Christ.

Nothing was scrapped.

Limbo was never an OFFICIAL teaching of the Roman Catholic Church.

The pope's statement merely reinforces this fact and encourages those who still hold to the non-doctrinal belief to study the teachings of the Church so they can be in closer accord with those teachings.

There is nothing to scrap. It was never an official teaching. The Church is saying the same thing she had said all along -- "there is not an explicit teaching on this question found in revelation."

limbo was a theological idea,it was never officially accepted as doctrine and thus after revelations regarding the matter the idea of limbo was declared not to be accepted/acceptable. homosexuality is still wrong and goes against god.

Oh crap, "limbo" is gone? What happened to all those pagan babies I did not get a chance to save? What is next "Purgatory"? Dam, I thought I would get just 5-7 for my sins. Got it. I'm going to heaven. Why? Because I treat my fellow human beings as God's children. When I get to the "Pearly Gates" God can say nice job but you could have done more. Here is your new project.

Because the Catholic Church has a history of changing things- look at Papal Infallibility and the Immaculate Conception...not to mention Vatican II. This is why I became an Orthodox Christian.

The same way any church decides what to believe and what not to believe. Look up the first council of nicea (325 AD). Research what the catholic church decided to accept and what it scrapped back then.

Catholicism has a whole lot more to scrap besides limbo. They introduced a lot of falsehoods into Christianity, including:

THE CROSS, which is a pagan symbol that predates Christianity by thousands of years.

THE TRINITY, which says according to the Catholic Athanasian Creed: "So there is One Father, not Three Fathers; one Son, not Three Sons; One Holy Ghost, not Three Holy Ghosts. And in this Trinity none is afore or after Other, None is greater or less than Another, but the whole Three Persons are Co-eternal together, and Co-equal."

There is no scripture in the Bible that says the Father, Son, and holy spirit are co-equal and co-eternal. Not even scriptures like Matt. 28:19.

CALLING PRIESTS "FATHER." At Matt. 23:9, Jesus said to call no man "father" as a religious title. Catholics blatantly ignore those words.

Catholicism has a lot more to get rid of than just limbo.