Baptism in the Catholic tradition

• What do Catholics believe that all human beings are born with?

  The stain of original sin through Adam and Eve, as it was passed on seminally to Adam's descendants
• How can one be freed from original sin?

  To link them with Jesus Christ through baptism, as it re-enacts his death and rising again and joins the spiritual community of the Church.
• When do Catholics believe you should get baptised and why?

  As an infant because it cleanses them of sin. Also, if the infant were to pass away young and was baptised it would be unaffected by original sin in the afterlife and go to heaven
• Why do Catholics believe baptism is a sacrament?

  They believe it is a sacrament because the simple act of using water in a cleansing ritual, through God's grace, makes a profound and irreversible change to the person's spiritual existence.
• Key parts of a Roman Catholic ritual

  - the priest makes the sign of the cross on the child's forehead to symbolise that the child belongs to Christ

  - the adults reject evil and sin on behalf of the child

  - the person performing the baptism asks God to make holy the water used for baptism through the Holy Spirit

  - the baby is immersed three times in water or has water poured over its head

  - 'I baptise you in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit