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| That's Why We Have Infant Baptism! Actually, it is impossible to tell from the picture, therefore, whether they are believers or not! God is the one Who calls believers, albeit through the ministry of the Church (the child's family). Joseph Ratzinger was a Christian already for at least a few months when he was that age (having been baptized, the very day he was born, as tradition requires)! The first place he went was Church. The first food he ate was the blessed salt fed to him by the priest. And he was first washed by the Easter water of baptism. Even before he opened his eyes he was touched by God! In point of fact, if your parents are believers, your disposition is that of belief, and according to the Catholic sacramental norm the infant should be baptised as a newborn. Even the newborn, in the Christian dispensation, has been going faithfully to Mass at least every Sunday, and participating according to his capacity and location in utero in the holy sacrifice. Catholics begin to prepare for baptism they day they are conceived! By the time they are born they have been at it already for nine months, they know the familiar sounds and feelings associated with devotion to God. That is why "Parents are obliged to see that their infants are baptised within the first few weeks. As soon as possible after the birth, indeed even before it, they are to approach the parish priest to ask for the sacrament for their child, and to be themselves duly prepared for it." Canon 867 Code of Canon Law. So, it is a false presumption that these men are not Christians. I myself have baptized hundreds of children younger than these! They might be little Catholics...Thanks be to God!... In which case we call them... Neophytes |
To elaborate on the Magisterium of the Catholic Church is our mission on Plinthos (Gk. "brick"); and to do so anonymously, so that, like any brick in the wall, we might do our little part in the strength of the structure of humanity almost unnoticed.