Pope Benedict has decided to keep limbo in limbo a little longer.

For nearly a year the Church's International Theological Commission has been working on a document expected to recommend he formally abolish limbo, the place where centuries of Catholic tradition held that babies who die without baptism went.

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The Pope said a mass with members of the commission on Friday morning, but, contrary to some media speculation, he did not mention the concept in his homily and announced no decision.

The media reports had said the Pope would formally cancel limbo on Friday but a key participant, Italian Archbishop Bruno Forte, said the 30-member commission were still fine-tuning their document.

"The Pope did not mention it today in his homily. We are still working on the document. No vote has been taken. I think nothing will be ready to hand up to him until 2007," he told Reuters by telephone after the morning mass with the Pontiff.

Still, it is common knowledge in Church circles that limbo's days are numbered.

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Limbo, which comes from the Latin word meaning "border" or "edge," was considered by medieval theologians a state or place reserved for the unbaptized dead, including good people who lived before the coming of Christ.

According to Catholic teaching, baptism removes the original sin which has stained all souls since the fall from grace in the Garden of Eden.

Though never formally part of Church doctrine, limbo was taught to Catholics as late as the 1960s in many countries and has entered many languages to mean a state of suspension.

The old Baltimore Catechism, a question-and-answer format book used to teach religion to generations of American Catholics for much of the 20th century, said of limbo:

"Persons, such as infants, who have not committed actual sin and who, through no fault of theirs, die without baptism, cannot enter heaven; but it is the common belief they will go to some place similar to Limbo, where they will be free from suffering, though deprived of the happiness of heaven."