VATICAN CITY (Reuters) — The Roman Catholic Church has effectively buried the concept of limbo, the place where centuries of tradition and teaching held that babies who die without baptism went.In a long-awaited document, the Church’s International Theological Commission said limbo reflected an “unduly restrictive view of salvation”, according to the US-based Catholic News Service, which obtained a copy yesterday.

The thumbs-down verdict on limbo had been expected for years and the document, called “The Hope of Salvation for Infants Who Die Without Being Baptised,” was seen as most likely to be final since limbo was never formally part of Church doctrine.

Pope Benedict authorised the publication of the document.

According to the CNS report, the 41-page document says the theologians advising the Pope concluded that since God is merciful he “wants all human beings to be saved”.

It says grace has priority over sin, and the exclusion of innocent babies from heaven does not seem to reflect Christ’s special love for children, CNS, quoted the document as saying.

Limbo, which comes from the Latin word meaning “border” or “edge”, was considered by mediaeval theologians to be a state or place reserved for the unbaptised dead.