WHAT’S BEING CLAIMED:
- Pope Francis shocked the world when he made a surprising revelation Thursday by saying that hell did not exist.
- The pope was interviewed by Italian journalist Eugenio Scalfari, a self-proclaimed atheist, who befriended the pope in 2013.
- The Vatican has scrambled shortly after the article was published, clarifying that the article was “not a faithful transcript.”
On an article published by the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, Pope Francis allegedly made comments that seemed to be denying the existence of hell. Eugenio Scalfari, the newspaper editor, had a private meeting with Pope Francis before the Easter weekend.
Scalfari recognized the pope’s past remarks about how “good souls” who asked repentance from God would receive it.
“What about the bad souls?” Scalfari asked the pope.
Scalfari claims that Pope Francis told him, “hell doesn’t exist, the disappearance of the souls of sinners exists.”
“They are not punished, those who repent obtain the forgiveness of God and enter the rank of souls who contemplate him, but those who do not repent and cannot, therefore, be forgiven disappear,” Pope Francis was quoted as saying, as translated by Catholic blog Rorate Caeli.
The Vatican issued a statement immediately after the article’s publication, claiming that the article was “not a faithful transcript” and that it was a private meeting between the two and not a formal interview.
“What is reported by the author in today’s article is the result of his reconstruction, in which the literal words pronounced by the Pope are not quoted. No quotation of the aforementioned article must therefore be considered as a faithful transcription of the words of the Holy Father,” the Vatican said as translated by the Catholic News Agency.
The Catholic New Agency also noted that in 2013 Scalfari conceded that some words attributed to the pope “were not shared by Pope Francis” himself.
“Scalfari’s fifth meeting with Pope Francis, it is not the first time he has misrepresented the Pope’s words following a private audience,” the news agency wrote.
Pope Francis has been known a vocal supporter of reform for the Catholic Church and champion for the poor since becoming pope in 2013. He has since reached out to the youth and other religions. He is also known for voicing out his opinions liberally toward controversial topics including homosexuality, contraception, migration and the Catholic Church.
The Catholic Church’s more conservative clergy have been upset with the pope’s principles, “some of whom have pushed back against Pope Francis’ leadership.”
Source: Yahoo
20 comments
There is a line of theological thinking that at final judgment, those souls not saved are destroyed, rather than face eternal torment. In this theory, Hell is transitory for the period until final judgment. This Jesuit Pope seems to echo that thinking. I guess if you are not a believer, you can gain some comfort in being transformed into nothingness after a period in Hell rather than eternal suffering. No room here for a theological discussion of this or other theories of heaven or hell, but there still seems to be a clear choice…..
The Pope is a man. Man is with sin no matter who that man is. Through the mouth of saints have come truth mixed with lies. The Bible speaks for Christ not the Pope. The Bible speaks of a heaven and a hell. I choose to believe the Bible.
The bible was written by men, closed up in a room where they decided what pieces of writing would be included and not included. Men and “man is with sin no matter who that man is.”
ALL true Holy men know that one of Satan’s greatest deceptions is to convince men that HELL and even Satan himself, DO NOT EXIST.
The Vatican and the Pope are representatives of Satan and do his work on earth. There is much evidence throughout history of this, the most recent being the huge pedophilia debacle, affecting so many in so many countries. The Pope will one day burn in the Hell that he says does not exist.
Hell does not exist . Like many other inventions of Churches around the world want for us to believe to control our minds and pockets!
True
True hell doesn’t exist. This is a way the controllers are using to control the consciousness of the people to bring submissions and control. It is the same philosophy that they created about Santa Claus for children to behave, but instead they use hell to make your mind submit to some type of guilt control while they use you as slaves to run this screwed up matrix.
I have never believed in hell and I was born and raised Catholic. It is simply not consistent with the concept of a loving and merciful god to damn a fragile human for all eternity after only 70 years of bad doing. Reincarnation makes better sense.
Dr S Zito
I guess we’ll just have to wait and see!!
Revelation 20:10
“And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”
Sorry you haven’t read the bible, there’s a lot to be learned, especially, if your a leader of a church.
My a leader of a church would especially know that Revelation is literally not to be taken literally; as it literally says so in the first line. Which makes sense, because in 7:4 only 144,000 Jewish folks are spared from Hell, and in 12:4 a third of the stars are swept onto the ground by a dragon’s tail. Just to be clear: The mass of any third of the visible stars is over 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 times the mass of the Earth, so they literally would not fit on the ground; this is a metaphor.
Hell is an infernal fabrication by loathsome, greedy, holier-than-thou hypocrites to prey up upon the fears of those gullible enough to believe it! I believe the papal statement is ACCURATE!!! At last, an enlightened pope!! We love him!!
Hell does exist and I can prove it !!!
Google it on google map as Hell, Mich.
When the end of time comes–this earth that we are on is going to split open and the center of the earth is the hail and brim stone, that evil ones are going to fall into is the eternal hell! Check out the core of this earth! God has a purpose for everyone, but the choice is Yours! Just hope you are lifted up!
I would think that God has the heart of a mother….or a father. We know there is nothing that we cannot forgive our children. The whole concept of burning in hell destroyed my childhood. I’d rather think about God’s love. I hope the idea of the wicked being destroyed is correct and not the eternal flames of hell. Being destroyed is eternal also. I just can’t dwell on the frightening things I was taught as a child.
This pope needs to be fired or taken out of his position. He has spoken too many heresies, he is truly Not filled by the Holy Ghost or spirit of truth
He’s wonderful ❤️
Death, not torment in a fiery hell, is the penalty for sin. “He who has died has been acquitted from his sin.” – Romans 6:7
Please visit JW.org and search Is Hell Real?
Think: If a person is tormented forever, then that means they are alive experiencing ongoing pain and suffering. Anyone can admit, not only is that thought a valid contradiction of a loving God but it contradicts his own recorded word the Bible which shows this truth, “10 Just a little while longer, and the wicked will be no more;You will look at where they were,And they will not be there. 11 But the meek will possess the earth,And they will find exquisite delight in the abundance of peace.” ( Psalms 37:10,11). With this verse alone, I see one option for the wicked, and it sure isn’t life in torment.
I love this Pope. I wish every one of them from here on out, would be just like him. ❤️