This is fake news put out by an atheist journalist. The Pope has been on record many times talking about he’ll, Satan, demons, etc. I’m not a huge fan of this Pope but and definitely against lies to purposely harm the Catholic Church.
I wish you were right, but I doubt it. He very likely did say it. One of his heroes, the late liberal Cardinal Martini, was on record supporting the same ‘annihilation’ theory. If he didn’t say it or something close to it, the Vatican would have come out with a statement along the lines of ‘Pope Francis unreservedly repudiates the words ascribed to him and reiterates in no uncertain terms his belief in what the Catholic catechism teaches about hell and the human soul.’ Instead, their weasel words about the interview not being a precise transcript confirm the basic truth of the report.
> This is fake news put out by an atheist journalist. <
True, the journalist (Eugenio Scalfari) is an atheist. But he is not just some guy who wandered into the Vatican, hoping to embarrass Francis.
Scalfari is a longtime friend of the Pope. I find it hard to believe that he would simply make something up in order to hurt an old friend.
On the other hand, I can’t believe that Francis would deny Hell. The whole thing is very odd.