Posted on 03/31/2018 3:28:01 PM PDT by ebb tide
After Pope Francis was cited by an Italian journalist as saying that Hell doesn’t exist, Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster in the U.K. took to the BBC to say that what Francis may have had in mind is the imagery of Hell as a place of endless fire and torment, which, the cardinal insisted, “has never been part of Catholic teaching.”
“The image of fire and brimstone and all that has never been part of Catholic teaching. It’s been part of Catholic iconography, Christian iconography, but it’s never been part of teaching,” Nichols said on Friday.
“In fact, you know, there’s nowhere in Catholic teaching that says any one person is in Hell,” Nichols said. “St. Augustine had the wonderful expression of the man committing suicide, ‘Between the bridge and the water, the mercy of God can get in’.”
That said, Nichols did affirm the existence of Hell as part of Catholic belief.
“The existence [of Hell] is a straightforward consequence of our freedom of choice,” he said. “All that Catholic teaching says is that if a person makes a final, deliberate, irrevocable decision to reject any notion, any response, any willingness to be open to God, that’s a definitive decision that separates them from God.”
In response to the question “So, what happens?” Nichols replied, “Who knows?”
The fracas over what the Church teaches on Hell broke out on Friday, when the Italian newspaper La Repubblica published a front-page essay by its founder, 93-year-old Eugenio Scalfari, a self-described non-believer, describing a conversation he’d recently had with Pope Francis. It was the fifth time the two men have met since Francis’s election in 2013.
In it, Scalfari says he asked Francis what happens to the souls of sinners, and described the pontiff’s response as, “A Hell doesn’t exist, what exists is the disappearance of sinning souls.”
Not long afterwards, the Vatican issued a statement casting doubt on the legitimacy of the quotation.
Spokesman Greg Burke said Scalfari’s piece was “the fruit of his own reconstruction,” in which the pope’s words “are not cited textually,” and warned that it “should not be considered as a faithful transcript of the Holy Father’s words.”
RELATED: Vatican says interview in which Pope doubts Hell not a ‘faithful transcript’
Even before the statement, the alleged citation struck many observers as odd, since Francis actually speaks of Hell and the Devil quite openly.
In 2017 at the famed Marian shrine of Fatima, the pope said, “Our Lady foretold, and warned us about, a way of life that is godless and indeed profanes God in his creatures. Such a life - frequently proposed and imposed - risks leading to Hell.”
In response to the question “So, what happens?” Nichols replied, “Who knows?”
These guys are overlooking what Jesus said about hell. The pope and this cardinal are obviously overlooking what he said.
>>>The image of fire and brimstone and all that has never been part of Catholic teaching. It’s been part of Catholic iconography, Christian iconography, but it’s never been part of teaching,” Nichols said on Friday.<<<
Cardinal you got this messed up. Hell is a place of physical and spiritual torment. It is a part of Church teaching.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 1034
Jesus often speaks of “Gehenna” of “the unquenchable fire” reserved for those who to the end of their lives refuse to believe and be converted, where both soul and body can be lost.612 Jesus solemnly proclaims that he “will send his angels, and they will gather . . . all evil doers, and throw them into the furnace of fire,”613 and that he will pronounce the condemnation: “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire!
Nichols is not big on sacred scripture and entertains his dubious inference of “Catholic teaching”, which even that he dismisses, diminishes, and minimizes.
Another nit wit doth the Crux dig up to exasperate the faithful.
Priceless!
Actually the statement in the headline is correct.
The church has always thought that a mortal sin was such if you believed it to be a sin and did it anyway. There’s a lot of wiggle room in there...
Yes, it is.
What bothers me are the lies. Cardinals and writers rushing to explain what was “never part of teaching.” Same trick with adultery, homo stuff and shacking up. Ok, then not OK!
Let’s be honest: the concept of hell is evolving, or dissolving - it’s not the simple kids’ version, so, what we may believe? - Since clearly per the pope hell is not literal. Ok then, but tell the truth!
This is a catholic caucus thread. Please stay off it.
“This is a catholic caucus thread. Please stay off it.”
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Oops, my bad. I need more coffee - I didn’t catch the CC tag! Apologies.
I learned about hell all through my Catholic school years by teachers well-schooled in dogma and theology. Mortal sin without any repentance? Eternal damnation. Not heaven for you!
I don’t know what these people are trying to pull. Now Dante is heretical according to these jokers.
My oversight. Sorry.
It would be better if he had never been born”
-Jesus
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