Should the unborn be baptised?

by Michael Shackleton · September 4, 2012

When my granddaughter died in the womb at full term, my priest would not baptise her. He buried her, making it clear her soul had returned to God. He would not do the ritual of baptism, as she had never drawn breath, so was never alive. Either life begins at conception, not the potential for life, or it does not. Can you explain this? It is a hurtful point to me and the family.

Name withheld

This mural, painted on the interior of the John the Baptist Church at the Jordan River, depicts Jesus’ baptism by the hand of John. Photo: David Bjorgen

Human life, indeed, begins in the womb at conception, which is why the Church condemns abortion as a grave evil.

It is very difficult, therefore, for any of us to accept that human life can also tragically and spontaneously end in the womb. The sorrow that the child�s mother and family have to endure is a deep-felt grief that only they can experience, although others will profoundly empathise with them. It is one of the most distressing events that can happen in family life.

Catholics can find some solace at times like this in the rites and prayers of the Church. It is quite understandable then that you wanted not only a funeral service for the child but also the comfort of knowing that she had been baptised like the rest of her family. When the priest explained that baptism was not possible, who can blame you for feeling that the Church had simply added more hurt to that which was already depressing you in your feelings of loss and sorrow?

Because baptism is intended to introduce a living person into the company of the People of God here on earth, it has no spiritual benefit for a recipient who is no longer alive. You and your family can�t help feeling a sense of being cheated out of this beautiful sacrament, but your priest is right. God is the beginning and the end of all creation, and he will not have refused the little girl to come home to him. He has his own way of saving us all, and it has not been clearly revealed to us how this is done in the case of non-baptised infants.

The Catechism (1261) quotes Jesus� words, �Let the children come to me, do not hinder them� (Mk 10:14), and explains that this allows us to �hope that there is a way of salvation for children who have died without baptism�.