Limbo in Limbo

[bironic]

Under the advisement of a committee of theologians, the Pope is considering abolishing the concept of limbo. (Full story.)

I ask out of curiosity and a sort of amused incredulity: How can this be done? Are they going to deny, after 2,000 years of Christian religious and literary tradition, that limbo ever existed? How do they claim the authority to declare this? Is the proposal most likely to be dropped?

...Maddy?

Edited: Right, sorry, Limbo doth not equal Purgatory. Fixed now.

Comments

[bironic.livejournal.com]

To twist Thomas More's words in "A Man For All Seasons" (in a way I'm sure he wouldn't like), "If there is limbo, will the Pope's words make it not so? If there is not, may the Pope's words make it so?"

And the Pope, being infallible, declares that there is no limbo, thus claiming that other Popes ... who were also infallible ... ? ... were wrong ...

This is exactly the predicament that made me post the link and questions. In one line of thought (mine, not that it's all that's relevant here), if limbo were to exist, then it must exist regardless of what a Pope says about it. If the Pope is infallible, then limbo must wink in and out of existence depending on his pronouncements -- or even on his state of mind. You can't have it both ways, and I don't understand how a man could have that kind of power if limbo were considered as a literal location rather than a metaphor.

[catilinarian.livejournal.com]

Ex-Catholic sticking her nose in to clarify the infallibility thing...

At Vatican I in 1870 (thanks to some inspired political sneakery), the Pope was granted the CAPACITY for infallibility. (Well, granted is the wrong word; it was established that the College of Cardinals "recognised" in the office of Pope this capacity, which they then said had been there all along.) That doesn't mean that everything he says, even on matters of religion, is infallible, or that all Catholic doctrine is considered infallible. The Pope has the ability to speak ex cathedra (as the supreme teacher of the Church) on certain matters of faith and morals, and ONLY ex cathedra pronouncements are considered infallible. The amount of consultation that must be undertaken for a single ex cathedra pronouncement amounts to months and months.

Question: How many pronouncements have been ex cathedra since the establishment of the right?

Answer: Two. Neither concerned Purgatory or Limbo.

Also, the Church authorities hold that certain doctrines of the Church that predate the "discovery" (and therefore the public process)of papal infallibility are also revealed and infallible - teachings on "faith and morals." The rub? The definition of what is, and is not, a teaching on faith and morals CAN be changed, quite easily. So if you need to change a teaching - no problem, an "infallible" teaching didn't change, only a fallible classification OF that teaching as infallible.

[catilinarian.livejournal.com]

Everything else the Pope says about such matters as Limbo is said as a "private theologian", albeit one with a lot of clout. So the Pope's position on Limbo IS the Church's position, but is NOT considered infallible.