God has stated without qualification that NO ONE can enter the Kingdom of Heaven unless he is born again of water and the Spirit (Jn.3:5). Since God is almighty and all-knowing, as well as all-just and all merciful, all real Catholics must therefore conclude that there is no circumstance which can prevent God from getting the waters of Baptism to anyone who truly desires it. For nothing is impossible with God (Lk.1:37).

Your hypothetical scenario implicitly denies two of God's attributes (or at least that they have practical effects in men's lives) which have been solemnly defined as dogmas: God's Omnipotence and Omniscience (Lateran IV, Denz.428; Vatican I, Denz. 1782). Since there is no distinction between God and His attributes (for God is one and simple), your scenario is one which ultimately in effect denies God Himself. Of course, this still has to be demonstrated.

A. The Divine Promise to "Deliver the Goods" (i.e. water Baptism)

There are two promises God has given us which help to resolve this.

a) Ask and it shall be given

Jesus declared, "Ask and it SHALL be given to you; seek and you SHALL find; knock and it SHALL be opened to you. For EVERYONE who asks receives, and he who seeks finds... how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!" (Mat.7:7-8, 11; see also Jn.14:13-14).

IF someone truly desires the Sacrament of Baptism, THEN, by definition, he will ask for it. According to what God has promised, IF someone asks to be Baptized (in water, the only way), THEN God will get them to the sacred font UNLESS the individual didn't REALLY, whole-heartedly mean it.

It must be emphasized that:

1) since nothing is impossible with God (Lk.1:37);
2) since God promises that He will give to those who ask (Mat.7:7f), and
3) since God has commanded all to receive Baptism if they want to enter His Kingdom (Jn,3:5; Mk.16:16), then He would not with-hold water Baptism from those who sincerely ask for it and seek it (Mat.7:7f), ESPECIALLY since God commanded it of them.

Therefore, we MUST conclude that if someone does not receive Baptism before they die, they were not sincerely or wholeheartedly seeking it and didn't truly desire it, orGod saw something in their heart. IF you refuse to believe this, THEN you MUST hold that it is God's fault that they did not receive Baptism. It would mean that God has failed to keep the His own promises.

Hence, with this scenario, God becomes either a liar or impotent (i.e., unable to fulfill His promises). You can make the choice.

b) God completes what He begins (if we let Him).

Let's ask ourselves this:

Is the desire for Baptism a mere human work/desire or is it the result of grace to which men respond?

According to solemn and binding Church teaching, it is the latter. The Church has declared as a dogma of Faith that "actual grace, working inwardly, is necessary to make a good act of the will and/or even a religious thought which is conducive for salvation." (See Council of Orange II (529-30), approved by Pope Boniface II Denz.177,180 and Trent, Canons on Justification (Can.1-3; Denz. 811-13).

This can only mean that the desire for Baptism comes from God. It is God Who leads one to desire Baptism, and it was infallibly defined at Trent that:

“God does not forsake those who have once been justified by His grace, unless He be first forsaken by them” (On Justification, 11).

Think about the implications of the above teaching and how it applies to your scenario.

Now PLEASE, follow this closely:

God has revealed in Sacred Scripture that He will complete the work that he has begun in us. St. Paul declared: "Being confident of this very thing, that He who hath begun a good work in you will perfect it..." (Phil.1:6). IF God has begun in someone the desire to receive that which He has solemnly commanded men to receive (i.e. Baptism in water), THEN according to Trent and Scripture, we MUST hold that God WILL get that person to the holy waters of Baptism. He will not forsake them but will complete what He began.

IF not, THEN you MUST hold that God has forsaken someone in whom He has placed the desire for baptism in the first place, in whom He has begun a good work, but will not complete it. (Is one of God's attributes -the Big Teaser?) And since there is NO circumstance invincible against almighty God or unforeseeable by the all-knowing God, then the ONLY thing that can prevent one from receiving the Sacrament of Baptism is his own bad will, his own lack of openness and good will towards God's grace and truth.

B. Your scenario presumes that this command of God: the necessity to be Baptized, became impossible to fulfill for these two persons.

Ask yourself these two questions:

Were the situations of these two catechumens UNforeseen by God?
No, not if God is Omniscient. -And He is.
Were these situations out of God's control?
No, not if He is Omnipotent. And He is.

Now, "physical or moral impossibility" necessarily means that, due to some "unforeseen" circumstance, those who cannot get to the holy waters of Baptism, even though they desire such, are unable to fulfill/obey that which God has commanded.

IN FACT, THE ENTIRE WORKING PREMISE HERE IS THAT, due to some "unforeseen" circumstances, FOR SOME INDIVIDUALS THE COMMANDMENT TO BE BAPTIZED IS NOT POSSIBLE.

ON THE CONTRARY:

The Church has solemnly defined as a dogma that God does not require or command anything which cannot be fulfilled. Here's the source: Council of Trent, "On Justification" (ch.11):

God does not command impossibilities, but by commanding admonishes you both to do what you can do, to pray for what you cannot do, and [He] assists you that you may be able... For God does not forsake those who have once been justified by His grace, unless He be first forsaken by them." AND If anyone shall say that the commandments of God are, even for a man who is justified..., impossible to observe; let him be anathema." (Canon 18).

Now, in exposing this presumption, the entire hypothetical scenario falls from its presumed startin point, since it presumes that God has commanded that which is impossible for at least THESE two catechumens. This scenario depends on a working premise which denies the above dogma of the Catholic Church: that God does not command that which is impossible to fulfill.

Therefore, God's command to be Baptized can never be "physically or morally impossible" for anyone, no matter what the circumstance.

Do you recognize now how this hypothetical scenario is solved?

So you ask:
"Will either or both go to Heaven(purgatory) or Hell?"

Neither could go to Heaven, since they were not baptized in water. This is de fide definita. Now, as Pope Benedict XII infallibly defined, "according to the common arrangment of God," they would both go immediately to to Hell after their particular judgments. However, if (outside of the COMMON arrangement of God) both do not immediately go to their particular judgments, then no one knows where they go. God could raise them up from the dead and have them baptized, WHICH HAS IN FACT HAPPENED numerous times before. (This is why God allowed Pope Benedict to use the clause, "according to the COMMON arrangment of God.") But we are heretics if we say they go to Heaven. Fidelity to the Sacred Deposit of Faith demands of us that we "do not move beyond the boundaries which [our] fathers have set" (Proverbs 22:28).

In the Heart of the Tower,

Adam S. Miller
Tower of David Ministry
Catholic Apologetics and Evangelism
Adam-TODM@juno.com