Zwischen „limbus puerorum” und Hoffnung auf Erlösung. Schicksal der ungetauften verstorbenen Kinder in der theologischen Reflexion und der pastoralen Praxis

Abstract

The church passed on the theme of children who died without baptism, including the miscarried children, the path from hell through the abyss to the hope of salvation – and it is still an open question, topic to discussion. The hope of salvation of these children is a return to the evangelical words of Jesus: „Let the children come to me, do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of God” (Mk 10,14). Inappropriate pastoral practice was replaced with the funeral rites provided for a child without baptism. It is necessary to intensify pastoral efforts aimed at forming the full awareness of parents and the whole society with regard to the death and burial situation of children who died without holy baptism, mainly miscarried children, which in result will lead to the proper pastoral praxeology.