The Hell There Is

Learning to appreciate the reality of and reasons for hell

04/07/2018

Mark 16:9-15 When Jesus had risen, early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons. She went and told his companions who were mourning and weeping. When they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe. After this he appeared in another form to two of them walking along on their way to the country. They returned and told the others; but they did not believe them either. But later, as the Eleven were at table, he appeared to them and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart because they had not believed those who saw him after he had been raised. He said to them, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.”

You may have heard some rumor or reporting in the news that the pope said there is no hell. Let me help clarify those comments by providing a little context. On Holy Thursday, March 29, Pope Francis had a private – private – conversation with an Italian reporter, Eugenio Scalfari, a 93-year old self-professed atheist, and a friend of the pope. That conversation was not intended to be an interview for public consumption, but that did not sway Scalfari from publishing an article the following day based on his recollections of that conversation (he did not tape it or take notes).

According to Scalfari’s recollection, he asked Pope Francis what happens to the souls of sinners when they died. And again, according to Scalfari’s memory, the pope answered: “They’re not punished. Those who repent obtain forgiveness and enter the ranks of those who contemplate [God], but those who don’t repent and can’t be forgiven disappear. A Hell doesn’t exist, what exists is the disappearance of sinning souls” (“Vatican says interview in which Pope doubts Hell not a ‘faithful transcript,” Crux Now, March 29, 2018). On the surface those words certainly seem controversial and contradict Catholic teaching. Hence, the Vatican quickly denied that comment, saying it was merely “the fruit of [Scalfari’s] own reconstruction.” Nonetheless, since it was put in print not a few people believed it, maybe some even secretly hoping there is no hell. Wouldn’t that be nice?

Instead of debating the authenticity of the pope’s comments, let me list five things Catholics believe about hell. First of all, no one taught more about the truth of hell in the New Testament than Jesus himself. Take perhaps the most dramatic instance of the Last Judgment in Matthew 25. Jesus describes his own glorious return at the end of time, when he will separate all humanity putting the sheep on his right, who go to heaven, and placing the goats on his left, who go to “eternal punishment (Mt. 25:46). To deny the existence of hell would empty our Lord’s teaching of much of its most compelling content.

Secondly, the Catechism of the Catholic Church is emphatic on the existence of hell. We read: “The teaching of the Church affirms the existence of hell and its eternity.” It continues: “Immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell, where they suffer the punishment of hell, ‘eternal fire’” (Catechism, 1035). To deny the existence of hell would be tantamount to saying the Holy Spirit has misguided the magisterium of the Church on a basic Christian belief. Furthermore, it would throw egg in the face of the saints and scholars who taught this truth for two thousand years.

Thirdly, what do we celebrate during Holy Week, especially the Sacred Triduum, but Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection? But why should our Lord have to suffer such torments if he was not saving us from something as terrible as hell? If the souls of sinners simply disappeared after death, why be whipped mercilessly by cruel chords, spit upon by self-righteous soldiers, blithely rejected by your own people, and finally nailed naked to a tree for all to see? Denying the existence of hell makes a mockery of our Lord’s passion and death, as if he died for nothing.

Fourthly, Jesus’ final command to his apostles is recorded in today’s gospel. He said: “Go into the whole would and proclaim the Gospel to every creature” (Mk. 16:15). The apostles testified to the Gospel not only with their words and actions, but also by their death, which were always cruelly conceived by their persecutors. St. Peter was crucified upside-down, St. Andrew was crucified in the shaped of an “X,” St. Paul was beheaded in Rome, St. Bartholomew was skinned alive, and so forth. Would it make much sense that they would suffer these tortures (like Jesus did), if there were not terrifying consequences for unbelief? In other words, one reason the Gospel is such “good news” is that it saves us from the really “bad news” of the eternal consequences of our sins, namely, hell. What motivated the apostles was not only the hope of heaven but also the fear of hell.

Fifthly and finally, a word about the power of the pope, or rather the limits of his power. Catholic Christians do not believe the pope is omnipotent (all-powerful) nor is he omniscient (all-knowing), instead he is an infallible instrument when he teaches authoritatively on matters of faith and morals. That infallibility does not apply when he’s having a casual conversation over a glass of chianti with a friend whom he’s trying to help love the Lord. The pope’s primary purpose is always twofold: to safeguard the deposit of faith and to be a sign of the unity of the Church. As he fulfills one function, he should not forget the other.

In the end, we can liken the pope’s power to something like that of a newspaper reporter. The old adage teaches: a good newspaperman only reports the news, he doesn’t create it. The pope doesn’t create the truth, he merely proclaims it. That’s something our friend, Mr. Scalfari, would do well to remember too.

Praised be Jesus Christ!