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Question

Dear Father Angelo,

I am writing to you following a shocking performance on stage at the San Remo Festival (2022) by the “singer” Achille Lauro.

After performing his piece, aside from the display of questionable taste, he raised a small metal basin filled with water, from which he took a shell-shaped cup and “baptized” himself. In short, he imitated the gestures of baptism, using his own tools, performing them on himself.

Personally, I was disgusted. To say I was scandalized would be excessive because, following the literal meaning of the term, I had no doubts about the moral quality of the gesture. However, I do not doubt that it could be scandalous for others, instilling legitimate doubts. The following day, the Bishop of Ventimiglia and San Remo issued a statement with which I find myself in agreement.

However, given the necessary brevity of the Bishop’s statement, I believe it is healthy to explain whether and how performing the act of baptizing oneself is sacrilegious and harmful. Honestly, I say: I do not know.

I know it was a performance of bad taste, disrespectful and vile. Can there be damage of another order, besides the offense to religious morals? I entrust to you a reflection based on texts, clear and resolute as those to which you have accustomed the readers of this site.

With affection and esteem,
Filippo

Priest’s answer

Dear Filippo,

1. The sacraments are sacred signs.

Signs as such are eloquent in themselves.

Your question raises the necessity of a minister. Is it really necessary to be baptized by another?

2. Let’s start with what the Author of this sacrament, Jesus Christ, said: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Mt 28:19-20). “Baptizing” them means “immersing” them. In what? In communion with the Father, with the Son, and with the Holy Spirit.

Since this is a supernatural communion, no one can enter into it by themselves. They can only be introduced by God, of whom the minister acts as an agent by divine will.

3. Jesus did not say: “Everyone should baptize themselves.” But: “Go and baptize.” One is immersed only at His will.

This is made even more evident when considering that baptism communicates sanctifying grace, which involves a participation in the nature and life of God. It is a supernatural gift that exceeds man’s natural abilities.

Precisely because it is supernatural, no one can give it to themselves; rather, it is received.

4. It should also be noted that the principal celebrant of baptism, as with any other sacrament, is Jesus Christ.

Now, in the celebration of the sacrament of baptism, Jesus Christ brings forth from Himself a supernatural virtue, passing it through the minister He has chosen, through the words spoken by him, and finally through the water. And by touching the head of the person being baptized, He communicates it to them, making them a child of God by grace, by adoption.

The virtue that Jesus Christ brings forth from Himself and that transforms man into a child of God is that “seed of divine life,” of which St. John speaks in 1 Jn 3:9.

5. Baptism generates children of God.

It is the sacrament of Christian regeneration.

And just as no one can give life to themselves but receives it from a father and mother, so in the supernatural life of grace one is generated by God in communion with Holy Mother Church.

Through baptism, one simultaneously becomes a child of God and a child of the Church.

6. In this way, through this sacrament, one enters into the family of God and acquires new brothers and sisters in faith among whom there is a supernatural communion of grace.

These brothers and sisters are not only those we see in this world but also those who live in heaven. For this reason, through baptism we become “fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God” (Eph 2:19).

7. Baptizing oneself, aside from being a useless rite that communicates nothing, means that others have no part in it.

It would be the most perfect individualism, entirely contrary to the evangelical teaching and Christian life which essentially consists in charity and communion.

Hence why baptism is something received; no one can give it to themselves.

Thank you for your question which encourages greater awareness of what we have received.

I wish you every good thing, bless you, and remember you in my prayers.

Father Angelo