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VI.The Necessity ofBaptism
1257The Lord himself affirms that Baptism is necessary for salvation. Healso commands his disciples to proclaim the Gospel to all nations and tobaptize them. Baptism is necessary for salvation for those to whomthe Gospel has been proclaimed and who have had the possibility of asking forthis sacrament. The Church does not know of any means other thanBaptism that assures entry into eternal beatitude; this is why she takes carenot to neglect the mission she has received from the Lord to see that all whocan be baptized are "reborn of water and the Spirit." God has boundsalvation to the sacrament of Baptism, but he himself is not bound by hissacraments.
1258The Church has always held the firm conviction that those who suffer death forthe sake of the faith without having received Baptism are baptized by theirdeath for and with Christ. This Baptism of blood, like the desire for Baptism,brings about the fruits of Baptism without being a sacrament.
1259For catechumens who die before their Baptism, their explicit desire to receiveit, together with repentance for their sins, and charity, assures them thesalvation that they were not able to receive through the sacrament.
1260"Since Christ died for all, and since all men are in fact called to oneand the same destiny, which is divine, we must hold that the Holy Spirit offersto all the possibility of being made partakers, in a way known to God, of thePaschal mystery." Every man who is ignorant of the Gospel ofChrist and of his Church, but seeks the truth and does the will of God inaccordance with his understanding of it, can be saved. It may be supposed thatsuch persons would have desired Baptism explicitly if they had known itsnecessity.
1261As regards children who have died without Baptism, the Church can only entrustthem to the mercy of God, as she does in her funeral rites for them. Indeed,the great mercy of God who desires that all men should be saved, and Jesus'tenderness toward children which caused him to say: "Let the children cometo me, do not hinder them," allow us to hope that there is a wayof salvation for children who have died without Baptism. All the more urgent isthe Church's call not to prevent little children coming to Christ through the giftof holy Baptism.
