But isn't it true that all babies are born without baptism? It is the babies who die without it that should be of concern.
I don't know of whom Dante spoke, but he was a poet, not a theologian.
The Limbo of unbaptized babies is not part of the divine revelation of the Catholic Church. It has been part of educated theological speculation by Augustine, Aquinas and others.
There are many much, much more educated Catholics on this forum than yours truly, but that is the best explanation I can give.
I think the Reuter's author did not consult anyone except his own hunch about what "limbo" is.
My understanding is that "limbo" is not a state at all. The meaning of someone being "in limbo" is simply that the Catholic Church cannot put authoritatively proclaim where that person is, whether it is Heaven, Purgatory, or Hell.
To state such souls automatically go to Heaven, while that is a comfy notion, is to state that the only effect of experiencing life is to risk damnation. If that were true, abortion would be a required charity, and it would be sinful for anyone ever to give birth, since it is a sin to place another person in danger of mortal sin.
To state such souls automatically go to Hell seems cruel and unjust on the part of God.
To state such souls go to purgatory is ultimately to state such souls go to Heaven, so the first problem remains. Plus, there are added questions, such as what can the souls require purification of, and how can they draw themselves closer to a Jesus they have not known.
Hence, Limbo means "an undetermined status," such as the fate of most of NBC's fall lineup.
We could never get the nuns and priests at my Catholic High School to give us any info about Limbo, I'm guessing it was kind of embarassing to have to come up with an answer other than "its where unbaptized babies go." Of course when you asked the nuns why they were punished when the only sin they could have committed was spitting up on mommy, they pretty much changed the subject!
The aircraft nav system I used to fly in the AF actually had a mode called LIMBO. If you did not have a route defined for the system, it could not give the pilot guidance and the steering information had no direction. So Limbo does exsist and is documented in USAF tech data!