Pius XII, in his October 29, 1951 "Address to Midwives on the Nature of Their Profession,” addressed the question of infant baptism and salvation:
Supernatural life
If what We have said up to now
concerns the protection and care of natural life, much more so must it concern
the supernatural life, which the newly born receives with Baptism. In the
present economy there is no other way to communicate that life to the child who
has not attained the use of reason. Above all, the state of grace is absolutely
necessary at the moment of death without it salvation and supernatural
happiness—the beatific vision of God—are impossible. An act
of love is sufficient for the adult to obtain sanctifying grace and to supply
the lack of baptism; to the still unborn or newly born this way is not open.
Therefore, if it is considered that charity to our fellowman obliges us to
assist him in the case of necessity, then this obligation is so much the more
important and urgent as the good to be obtained or the evil to be avoided is
the greater, and in the measure that the needy person is incapable of helping
or saving himself with his own powers; and so it is easy to understand the
great importance of providing for the baptism of the child deprived of complete
reason who finds himself in grave danger or at death’s threshold.
Undoubtedly this duty binds the
parents in the first place, but in case of necessity, when there is no time to
lose or it is not possible to call a priest, the sublime office of conferring
baptism is yours.
