Baptism

Every Christian life begins in water. Baptism is the first of the sacraments and the door to all the others; the Catechism calls it the basis of the whole Christian life (CCC 1213). Whether for a baby or an adult, the same thing happens. A person is joined to Christ's death and rises with him into a new life (Romans 6:3–4).

What Baptism does

The word comes from a Greek verb meaning to plunge or immerse (CCC 1214). Its effects are these (CCC 1262–1274):

• Sin is forgiven. Baptism takes away original sin, the wounded state we inherit from the first human beings, and, in an adult, every personal sin as well, together with all the punishment due to sin (CCC 1263). A tendency towards sin, which tradition calls concupiscence, remains as something to struggle against (CCC 1264).
• We are born again. The baptised person becomes a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), an adopted child of God and a temple of the Holy Spirit (CCC 1265). Jesus told Nicodemus that no one enters the kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit (John 3:5).
• We become members of the Church. Baptism makes us members of the Body of Christ (CCC 1267) and gives us a share in his priesthood (CCC 1268).
• We are sealed. Baptism marks the soul with an indelible spiritual sign that we belong to Christ. No sin can erase it, which is why Baptism is never repeated (CCC 1272).

Water and the name of the Trinity

Before his Ascension, Jesus sent his apostles out with a command:

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

— Matthew 28:19

The heart of the rite is just that. The person is immersed in water three times, or water is poured over the head three times, while the minister baptises them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit (CCC 1239–1240). Other signs unfold the meaning: an anointing with sacred chrism, a white garment, and a candle lit from the Easter candle (CCC 1241–1243).

What to expect at a baptism

At the celebration the child is welcomed and signed with the cross, the Scriptures are read, and the parents and godparents reject sin and profess the faith of the Church (CCC 1235–1237). Godparents should be practising believers, ready to help the child grow as a Christian (CCC 1255).

Adults usually prepare over a longer period, called the catechumenate, and then receive Baptism, Confirmation and the Eucharist together, normally at the Easter Vigil (CCC 1232–1233, 1247–1249).

Why the Church baptises babies

Children are born with a fallen human nature too, and they also need the new birth Baptism brings (CCC 1250). Grace is a pure gift that no one earns, and that is never clearer than when it is given to someone too young to ask. Parents do not wait for a child to choose a language or a family before giving them one; in the same spirit, the Church would not withhold from a child the gift of becoming a child of God (CCC 1250–1251).

The practice is clearly attested from the second century, and quite possibly goes back to the apostles, who baptised whole households (CCC 1252; Acts 16:15, 33; 1 Corinthians 1:16). A baby is baptised in the faith of the Church, and that faith must then be nourished as the child grows (CCC 1253–1255).

Who can baptise

Ordinarily a bishop or a priest baptises, and in the Latin Church a deacon as well. In an emergency, anyone can baptise, even someone who is not baptised, provided they intend to do what the Church does and use the Trinitarian formula (CCC 1256). A nurse with a dying newborn, for example, can baptise the child, and should tell the parish afterwards.

Those who die without Baptism

Baptism is necessary for salvation for those to whom the Gospel has been proclaimed and who have been able to ask for it, and the Church knows of no other means than Baptism that assures entry into eternal life (CCC 1257). Yet the Catechism adds a sentence worth knowing by heart: "God has bound salvation to the sacrament of Baptism, but he himself is not bound by his sacraments" (CCC 1257).

So the Church teaches that those who die for the faith before being baptised are saved by that death, a baptism of blood (CCC 1258). Catechumens who die before their Baptism are saved by their desire for it, together with repentance and love, a baptism of desire (CCC 1259). And anyone who, not knowing the Gospel, seeks the truth and does God's will as they understand it may be saved, since it may be supposed they would have wanted Baptism had they known of it (CCC 1260).

For children who die without Baptism, the Church entrusts them to the mercy of God, as she does in her funeral rites. God's desire that all be saved (1 Timothy 2:4), and Jesus' tenderness towards children (Mark 10:14), allow us to hope that there is a way of salvation for them. That hope also makes it all the more urgent not to delay bringing children to Baptism (CCC 1261). Parents who have lost a child can rest in that hope.

Christians of other churches

Baptism is the foundation of communion among all Christians, including those not yet in full communion with the Catholic Church. Those baptised in other Christian communities are truly incorporated into Christ, rightly called Christians, and welcomed by Catholics as brothers and sisters in the Lord (CCC 1271). A Christian baptised with water in the name of the Trinity who later becomes Catholic is therefore not baptised again.

Going deeper

• Read on to Confirmation and the Eucharist, which complete Christian initiation.
• For the bigger picture, see What a sacrament is.
• In the Catechism: CCC 1213–1284, especially 1262–1274 on the effects of Baptism.