Baptism

===Catholicism===
{{Religious text primary|date=February 2022}}
{{see also|Sacraments of the Catholic Church|Baptismal vows|Parish register}}
[[File:Bautizo (68227747).jpeg|thumb|Catholic Baptism using a scallop]]
In Catholic teaching, baptism is stated to be "necessary for salvation by actual reception or at least by desire".<ref name="can849">{{cite web|url=http://www.intratext.com/IXT/ENG0017/_P2T.HTM |title=Code of Canon Law, canon 849 |publisher=Intratext.com |date=May 4, 2007 |access-date=February 25, 2009| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090115174636/http://www.intratext.com/IXT/ENG0017/_P2T.HTM| archive-date= January 15, 2009 | url-status= live}}</ref> Catholic discipline requires the baptism ceremony to be performed by deacons, [[Priesthood in the Catholic Church|priests]], or bishops, but in an emergency such as danger of death, anyone can licitly baptize. This teaching is based on the [[Gospel according to John]] which says that Jesus proclaimed: "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God."<ref>{{bibleverse|John|3:5|RSV}}</ref> It dates back to the teachings and practices of 1st-century Christians, and the connection between salvation and baptism was not, on the whole, an item of major dispute until [[Huldrych Zwingli]] denied the necessity of baptism, which he saw as merely a sign granting admission to the Christian community.<ref name="cross2005baptism"/> The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that "Baptism is necessary for salvation for those to whom the Gospel has been proclaimed and who have had the possibility of asking for this sacrament."<ref name="vatican">{{cite web|year=1993|title=The Necessity of Baptism|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P3M.HTM|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090221160536/https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P3M.HTM|archive-date=February 21, 2009|access-date=February 24, 2009|work=[[Catechism of the Catholic Church]]|publisher=[[Vatican Publishing House]]}}</ref> The [[Council of Trent]] also states in the ''Decree Concerning Justification'' from session six that baptism is necessary for salvation.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Council of Trent Session 6 |url=http://www.ewtn.com/library/councils/trent6.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120626235233/http://www.ewtn.com/library/COUNCILS/TRENT6.htm |archive-date=June 26, 2012 |access-date=November 3, 2012 |at=Session 6}}</ref> A person who knowingly, willfully and unrepentantly rejects baptism has no hope of salvation. However, if knowledge is absent, "those also can attain to salvation who through no fault of their own do not know the Gospel of Christ or His Church, yet sincerely seek God and moved by grace strive by their deeds to do His will as it is known to them through the dictates of conscience."<ref>{{cite web|title=LUMEN GENTIUM |url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19641121_lumen-gentium_en.html |work=Vatican II |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140906031754/https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19641121_lumen-gentium_en.html |archive-date=September 6, 2014 |df=mdy }}</ref>

The Catechism of the Catholic Church also states: "Since Baptism signifies liberation from sin and from its instigator the devil, one or more [[exorcism]]s are pronounced over the candidate".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P3J.HTM |title=Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1237 |publisher=Vatican.va |access-date=April 13, 2014}}</ref> In the [[Roman Rite]] of the baptism of a child, the wording of the prayer of exorcism is: "Almighty and ever-living God, you sent your only Son into the world to cast out the power of Satan, spirit of evil, to rescue man from the kingdom of darkness and bring him into the splendour of your kingdom of light. We pray for this child: set him (her) free from original sin, make him (her) a temple of your glory, and send your Holy Spirit to dwell with him (her). Through Christ our Lord."<ref>Rite of Baptism of Children, 86</ref>

In the Catholic Church by baptism all sins are forgiven, [[original sin]] and all personal sins.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ocp.org/what-is-baptism |first1=Jethro |last1=Higgins |date= March 27, 2018 |title=What is Baptism? |publisher=Oregon Catholic Press |access-date=April 25, 2018}}</ref> Baptism not only purifies from all sins, but also makes the neophyte "a new creature", an adopted son of God, who has become a "partaker of the divine nature", member of Christ and co-heir with him, and a temple of the Holy Spirit. Given once for all, baptism cannot be repeated: just as a man can be born only once, so he is baptized only once. For this reason the holy [[father of the Church|Fathers]] added to the [[Nicene Creed]] the words ''We acknowledge one Baptism''.<ref name="The Aquinas Cathechism">''[https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Aquinas_Catechism/gT6QAQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA84&printsec=frontcover The Aquinas Cathechism]'', Sophia Institute Press, foreword of Ralph Mclnerry, 2000 p. 84. {{ISBN|978-1-928832-10-2}}</ref> Sanctifying grace, the grace of justification, given by God by baptism, erases the original sin and personal actual sins.<ref>Catechism of the Catholic Church: THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM</ref>

The power of Baptism consists in cleansing a man from all his sins as regards both guild and punishment, for which reason no penance is imposed on those who receive Baptism, no matter how great their sins may have been. And if they were to die immediately after Baptism, they would rise at once to eternal life.<ref name="The Aquinas Cathechism" />

In the [[Latin Church]] of the Catholic Church a valid baptism requires, according to Canon 758 of the [[1917 Code of Canon Law]], the baptizer to pronounce the formula "I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" while putting the baptized in contact with water. The contact may be immersion, "affusion" (pouring), or "aspersion" (sprinkling).<ref name="Peters2001">{{cite book |last1=Peters |first1=Edward N. |title=The 1917 Or Pio-Benedictine Code of Canon Law: In English Translation with Extensive Scholarly Apparatus |date=2001 |publisher=[[Ignatius Press]] |isbn=978-0-89870-831-8 |page=280 |language=en}}</ref> The formula requires "name" to be singular, emphasising the [[monotheism]] of the [[Trinity]].<ref>''Ordo initiationis christanae adultorum'', editio typica, Vatican City, Typis polyglottis vaticanis, 1972, pg 92, cf Lateran IV ''De Fide Catholica'', DS 802, cf Florence, ''Decretum pro Armeniis'', DS, 1317.</ref> It is claimed that [[Pope Stephen I]], [[Ambrose]] and [[Pope Nicholas I]] declared that baptisms in the name of "Jesus" only as well as in the name of "Father, Son and Holy Spirit" were valid. The correct interpretation of their words is disputed.<ref name="cathen" /> Current [[canonical law]] requires the Trinitarian formula and water for validity.<ref name="can849" /> The formula requires "I baptize" rather than "we baptize", as clarified by a [[responsum]] of June 24, 2020.<ref>{{cite web |title=Responses to Questions Proposed: On the validity of Baptism conferred with the formula "We baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit"
|url=https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2020/08/06/0406/00923.html#rispostein |website=press.vatican.va |date=6 August 2020 |access-date=16 February 2022}}</ref> In 2022 the [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix|Diocese of Phoenix]] accepted the resignation of a parish priest whose use of "we baptize" had invalidated "thousands of baptisms over more than 20 years".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Medina |first1=Eduardo |title=Pastor Resigns After Incorrectly Performing Thousands of Baptisms |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/14/us/catholic-priest-baptisms-phoenix.html |access-date=16 February 2022 |work=The New York Times |date=14 February 2022}}</ref> Note that in the [[Byzantine Rite]] the formla is in the passive voice, "The servant of God N. is baptized in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://mci.archpitt.org/liturgy/Baptism.html |title=The Mystery of Baptism |work=The Holy Mysteries |publisher=Metropolitan Cantor Institute |access-date=2022-03-13 }}</ref>

Offspring of practicing Catholic parents are typically baptized as infants. Baptism is part of the [[Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults]], provided for converts from non-Christian backgrounds and others not baptized as infants.<ref>{{Cite web|title=RCIA-Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults|url=https://cparl.org/rcia-rite-of-christian-initiation-for-adults|access-date=2021-03-19|website=Catholic Parishes of Arlington|language=en}}</ref> Baptism by non-Catholic Christians is valid if the formula and water are present, and so converts from other Christian denominations are not given a Catholic baptism.

The church recognizes two equivalents of baptism with water: "[[baptism of blood]]" and "[[baptism of desire]]". Baptism of blood is that undergone by unbaptized individuals who are [[martyr]]ed for their faith, while baptism of desire generally applies to [[catechumen]]s who die before they can be baptized. The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes these two forms:<ref>{{CCC|pp=1258}}</ref>

<blockquote>The Church has always held the firm conviction that those who suffer death for the sake of the faith without having received Baptism are baptized by their death for and with Christ. This ''Baptism of blood'', like the desire for Baptism, brings about the fruits of Baptism without being a sacrament.
:— 1258</blockquote>

<blockquote>For catechumens who die before their Baptism, their explicit desire to receive it, together with repentance for their sins, and [[Charity (virtue)|charity]], assures them the salvation that they were not able to receive through the sacrament.
:— 1259</blockquote>

The Catholic Church holds that those who are ignorant of Christ's Gospel and of the church, but who seek the truth and do God's will as they understand it, may be supposed to have an implicit desire for baptism and can be saved: {{"'}}Since Christ died for all, and since all men are in fact called to one and the same destiny, which is divine, we must hold that the Holy Spirit offers to all the possibility of being made partakers, in a way known to God, of the Paschal mystery.' Every man who is ignorant of the Gospel of Christ and of his Church, but seeks the truth and does the will of God in accordance with his understanding of it, can be saved. It may be supposed that such persons would have desired Baptism explicitly if they had known its necessity."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_P3M.HTM |title=Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1260 |publisher=Vatican.va |access-date=April 13, 2014}}</ref> As for unbaptized infants, the church is unsure of their fate; "the Church can only entrust them to the mercy of God".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_P3M.HTM |title=Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1261 |publisher=Vatican.va |access-date=April 13, 2014}}</ref>