On the new funeral ritual, prepared in 1965 and published in 1969:
Was it appropriate to introduce a
Mass “for a child not yet baptized”? Without giving any details about the “state”
or “place” of children who die without being baptized, the Church clearly
teaches the necessity of sacramental baptism or baptism of desire in order to
obtain the beatific vision: “In the present order, there is no other means
[other than baptism] of communicating this life to a child who has not yet
reached the age of reason. And yet, the state of grace at the moment of death
is absolutely necessary for salvation. Without it, it is not possible to attain
supernatural bliss, the beatific vision of God.” (Pius XII, speech of October
29, 1951) The
highly controversial contemporary document that contradicts this is merely a study
proposed as an opinion by the International Theological Commission. The Mass
proposed by the new missal, although clearly intended to console parents,
nevertheless says: “May they [the parents] entrust him to your love”: “tuae sentient
divinae pietati commissum [infantem ejus].” And in the farewell prayer (the
absolution): “With confidence, we entrust him to God.” (Claude Barthe, The
Seven Sacraments, Past & Present: A Short Critical Study of the New Rituals
[trans. Karen Darantiè; Lincoln, Nebr.: Os Justi Press, 2026], 59-60)
