[kosta50]

I'm going to have to look at his actual speech.

Here is an article that makes it clear it is not a Catholic or Orthodox doctrine to consider hell a "place." From the source:

A FEW YEARS ago the Catholic Church modernized its teaching on eternal damnation when John Paul II rejected the idea of hell as a physical place. Instead, preached the pope, "Hell is the state of those who freely and definitively separate themselves from God, the source of all life and joy. [It is] a condition resulting from attitudes and actions which people adopt in this life." As for eternal damnation, he said those who freely choose separation from God have their choice "confirmed with death and seal that choice forever."

[MarkBsnr]

"Hell is the state of those who freely and definitively separate themselves from God, the source of all life and joy. [It is] a condition resulting from attitudes and actions which people adopt in this life."

Nicely put. I wonder what the New Testament free thinker types would make of this.