Fr Thomas Norris, from St Patrick's College, Maynooth, is one of 30 theologians sitting on the International Theological Committee, which recently produced a document suggesting that there was "great hope" that unbaptised children could be admitted to heaven. The document has been approved for publication by Pope Benedict.

The Catholic church has long maintained that the limbo of children refers to the permanent in-between status of the unbaptised who die in infancy, without having committed any personal sins, but without having been freed from original sin. However, this belief has never been official church doctrine.

"We examined a number of reasons why there is great hope that unbaptised children could in fact see the face of God, " Fr Norris said. "This will be a source of great happiness, hope and consolation for all the families who find themselves anguished when a child dies unbaptised".

The commission found that the main basis for this hope lies in the "merciful love of God and the fact that he has said he wants us all to be saved, " according to Fr Norris.

"We don't have an explicit revelation or strict doctrine in relation to limbo. We've to deal with it in terms of argument. That is the reason we as theologians have been able to examine the issue."

The 41-page document is to be published in the US magazine Origins later this week before being translated into different languages and published worldwide.

Fr Norris said it may be the first step in the church explicitly refuting the existence of limbo.

"In theory, it's possible this could go further. The church in time may bring out a teaching on limbo."