“Do not forget to baptize your children,” declares Pope Francis

The pope took advantage of the beginning of Paschaltide to speak of baptismal life that is sealed in the death and resurrection of Christ. He recalled that Baptism is the foundation of all Christian life, that it is the first sacrament, the “door” that allows us to plunge into the mystery of Christ Our Lord.

The Greek verb “to baptize” means “to plunge”. As the body is plunged into the water, “the soul is plunged into Christ to receive pardon for its sins and shine with divine light” (Tertullian).

Rebirth of the New Man and Death of the Old Man

The pope explained that Baptism is the birth of a new man, recreated in Jesus Christ, drowning the old man who was “dominated by sin which separates him from God”. This was his only – timid – allusion to original sin and its deadly consequences for the human condition. The sovereign pontiff did, however, insist that Baptism is a rebirth to which “all the children of Adam are called” in order to live a new life. Any Christian worthy of the name should know his baptismal date and give thanks to God for this day on which the Lord and the Holy Ghost took up their abode in him with the very life of the Trinity.

This sacrament was entrusted to the Apostles (Mt. 28:19) and it is the condition for being born into divine life. The pope quoted the famous passage in which Christ declared to Nicodemus: “Amen, amen I say to thee, unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh, is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit, is spirit” (Jn. 3:5-6).

This life according to the Spirit that is also mentioned by St. Paul begins with burial in the death of Jesus Christ (Rom. 6:3-4). It is the life of the members of the Body of Christ, the Church, and all who wish to bear fruit must be attached to this trunk (Jn. 15:5).

“Do not forget to baptize your children!”

Baptism is received only once, and it illuminates the life of Christians, allowing “Christ to live in us and us to live united with Him.” While this sacrament implies an act of Faith and therefore a catechumenate for adults, the pope explained that “from antiquity, children, too, have been baptized in the faith of their parents” who can request Baptism for them.

At this point the sovereign pontiff mentioned the common objection: “Some people think: ‘But why baptize a child who does not understand it? We hope that as he grows, he will understand and that he himself will request Baptism’.” And his answer to this argument was: “But this means not having confidence in the Holy Spirit, because when we baptize a child, the Holy Spirit enters that child, and the Holy Spirit cultivates in that child, from childhood, Christian values that will then flourish.”

His answer is correct, although the pope failed to mention that parents have a grave duty to baptize their children as young as possible, in order to save them from the danger of eternal death. Francis preferred to speak of a lack of trust in the Holy Ghost at work in the souls of little ones where He develops the Christian virtues. Parents must provide their children with the opportunity “to have within them the Holy Spirit who guides them during life.” Hence his injunction: “Do not forget to baptize your children!”

Commentary

It is most fortunate that the pope took advantage of a papal audience to ask adults to baptize their children as early as possible. We hope this call will be heard and counter a practice that has become very widespread since the conciliar aggiornamento.

However, in keeping with the new pastoral approach that avoids all mention of the last ends, the pope failed to mention that Baptism erases the stain of original sin and makes the soul a child of God, taking it out of the devil’s power. He did not mention sanctifying grace or all the infused virtues but preferred to insist upon the divine and trinitary life given by Baptism that is indeed a new birth given to the soul by the Holy Ghost.

There remains this beneficial insistence upon the necessity of Baptism in order to partake in the divine life. It would be interesting to consider the exact implications of this in our days of interreligious dialogue when so many souls lie in the shadow of death, far from the true Faith and the sacrament of Baptism that would give them eternal life. When sending His disciples to baptize all nations and preach the Gospel to all creatures, Christ told them, “He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be condemned” (Mk. 16:16).