CATHOLICS DISAVOW LDS BAPTISM

The Vatican has announced that Roman Catholics will no longer accept as valid, baptisms performed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. According to a news report posted on the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) web site, "the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith determined that the faith of Mormons is sufficiently different from Christian doctrine so that the baptism conferred by that sect has a different significance."

Catholicism teaches that the legitimacy of the sacrament of baptism does not rely upon the virtue of the person administering the ordinance. The Council of Trent, held in the 16th century, determined that anyone, even a heretic, could bestow a valid baptism if it was executed "in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit," and with the intention of baptizing the individual into the Christian faith.

Father Luis Ladaria, a Jesuit theologian, indicates the judgment of the church is "a change from the past practice" wherein Catholics consider Mormon baptism as acceptable. The committee cited the LDS belief that God the Father is an exalted man with a celestial wife who procreated Jesus Christ. "The Vatican concluded, therefore, that 'this is not the Baptism that Christ instituted,'" the EWTN report stated.

Members of the Mormon faith have also been proxy baptized for Roman Catholic saints, including Saint Francis of Assisi and Joan of Arc. However, the church's decision made no direct verdict concerning the LDS baptisms for the dead. In April 1995, the LDS church agreed to remove from its baptismal records the names of 380,000 Jews who died in the Nazi Holocaust and who had been baptized by proxy in Mormon temples.

-- MKG

© 2001 - PFO. All rights reserved by Personal Freedom Outreach. This article may not be stored on BBS or Internet sites without permission. Reproduction is prohibited, except for portions intended for personal use and non-commercial purposes. For reproduction permission contact: Personal Freedom Outreach, P.O. Box 26062, Saint Louis, Missouri 63136.