The Catechism of St. Thomas Aquinas THE FIFTH ARTICLE: "He Descended into Hell."
Objection: The Council of Florence in 1439 taught (DS 1306)[693]: "The souls of those who depart in actual mortal sin or only original sin descend into the realm of the dead (infernum), to be punished however with unequal "punishments".
"unequal punishments" ( poenis disparibus )
dispar.ibus ADJ. unequal, disparate, unlike;
Reply: 1) The word "poena" in Latin need not always be the same as English "pain" - it can mean merely deprivation of something. As we saw above, Pius IX taught that God does not allow anyone to be punished with eternal punishments without the guilt of personal fault.
Vatican II, "On ecumenism" #6, taught that if any language in older teachings is in need of improvement, it should be improved. Such is the case here, at least if we do not think of the difference of Latin "poena" and English pain. Paul VI in "Mysterium fidei" did not contradict the Council, but said that the older texts are not untrue in themselves, if properly understood.
2) The word "infernum" in Latin means merely the realm of the dead, not hell in the English sense. Cf. the Creed in which we read that after His death, Jesus "descended into hell"- the archaic English use of the word.
3) Our reasoning above tends to show that the aborted babies, and probably other unbaptized babies also, are given grace by God outside the Sacrament of Baptism, and so do not depart this world in original sin, which is merely the lack of grace that should be there.Source: EWTN Library: SCRIPTUR/INFANT
Gosh, your reasoning has persuaded me. It all depends on what “hell” means. I am defeated!