Editing Infant baptism (section)

=== Catholic forced baptism & custody ===
{{Main|Postremo mense|Forced conversion to Christianity}}

==== ''Postremo mense'' ====
In 1747, [[Pope Benedict XIV]] issued [[papal bull]] ''Postremo mense'', about baptizing Jewish children, building on old Church traditions. Benedict XIV said it’s usually wrong to baptize a Jewish child without the parents’ permission, but it’s permissible if the child is dying. If a child is baptized, even improperly, the Church must take them from non-baptized Jewish parents to raise them as Christians.'''<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cunningham |first1=James J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sB7lrpjH7dkC&pg=PA112 |title=Summa Theologiae: Volume 57, Baptism and Confirmation: 3a. 66-72 |date=2006 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521029650 |pages=112 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Caffiero |first1=Marina |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WAch17-SogIC&pg=PA46 |title=Forced Baptisms: Histories of Jews, Christians, and Converts in Papal Rome |date=2012 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=9780520254510 |page=46}}</ref>''' These ideas matched earlier thinkers like [[Thomas Aquinas]] and were supported by later figures like [[Alphonsus Liguori]].'''<ref name="caffiero56">{{cite book |last1=Caffiero |first1=Marina |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WAch17-SogIC&pg=PA56 |title=Forced Baptisms: Histories of Jews, Christians, and Converts in Papal Rome |date=2012 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=9780520254510 |page=56}}</ref><ref name=":10">{{cite book |last1=Carlen |first1=Claudia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4uNVAAAAYAAJ |title=Papal Pronouncements, a Guide, 1740-1978: Benedict XIV to Paul VI |date=1990 |publisher=Pierian Press |isbn=9780876502730 |page=6 |language=en |accessdate=13 January 2018}}</ref>''' The Church punished unauthorized baptisms, but the baptism’s effects still stood. In 1751, Benedict issued a ''[[Probe te meminisse]]'' reinforcing these rules and setting penalties for Jewish converts who left Catholicism.'''<ref name="caffiero56" /><ref name=":10" />'''

==== Edgardo Mortara case (1858) ====
In 1858, six-year-old Jewish boy [[Mortara case|Edgardo Mortara]] was removed from his family in [[Bologna]], then part of the [[Papal States]], after a Catholic servant had baptized him as an infant during an illness, citing concern for his spiritual salvation. Under papal law, which required Catholic children to be raised in the faith, authorities declined requests from Edgardo’s parents to return him, despite appeals to figures such as Cardinal Giuseppe Milesi Ferretti and Archbishop [[Michele Viale-Prelà|Michele Viale-Prèla]]. Efforts by the family and Jewish leaders to negotiate with officials were unsuccessful. Due to the emotional strain of the separation, Edgardo’s mother, Marianna, was temporarily relocated from the home. The Church assumed custody of Edgardo, prompting widespread international criticism.<ref>Kertzer, D. I. (1997). The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara. United States: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. (pp. 9-10).</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Grew |first=Raymond |year=2000 |title=Review of ''The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara'', by David I. Kertzer |journal=Journal of the American Academy of Religion |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |volume=68 |issue=1 |pages=189–191 |doi=10.1093/jaarel/68.1.189 |issn=1477-4585 |jstor=1465729}}</ref>

==== Baptism during the Holocaust ====
During the [[The Holocaust|Holocaust]], many Jewish children in [[Occupation of Poland (1939–1945)|Nazi-occupied Poland]] were hidden and rescued by Catholic convents and monasteries. The motivations of the rescuers varied. While many nuns acted out of Christian compassion and humanitarian duty, the issue of religious conversion became controversial. Some children were baptized, sometimes as a protective measure, but this led to postwar disputes about their religious identity and custody. After the war, tensions arose between Jewish organizations and the Catholic Church over whether baptized children should be returned to the Jewish community or remain in Catholic care.<ref>Bogner, N. (1999). The convent children: The rescue of Jewish children in Polish convents during the Holocaust (N. Greenwood, Trans.). ''[[Yad Vashem|Yad Vashem Studies]]'', 27, 235–285. https://www.yadvashem.org/righteous/resources/rescue-of-jewish-children-in-polish-convents.html</ref>

==== Finaly Affair ====
Jewish boys [[Finaly Affair|Robert and Gérald Finaly]], hidden by Catholics during WWII, were baptized. Postwar, their Catholic caretaker refused to return them to Jewish relatives, citing their baptism. Legal battles ended with their return to Jewish family in 1953.<ref>Jones, P. D. (1983). The finaly affair: Issues and implications. ''Religion'', ''13''(3), 177-203.</ref><ref>Kertzer, D. I., & Benedetti, R. (2020). The Vatican’s Role in the Finaly Children’s Kidnapping Case. ''Studies in Christian-Jewish Relations'', ''15''(1).</ref>