[Mrs. Don-o]

The Catholic Church canonizes, but does not demonize. There is no doctrine naming any person in particular as being in hell, no matter what we know about how they lived their lives. And why? Because there is always the possibility that at the very last minute, anybody could reach out to God for love and, to their great surprise, find it.

An old Catholic rhyme: “Betwixt the stirrup and the ground, / Mercy I asked and mercy found.”

However... we do not know this is what happened to this kid's dad in the ever-lovin' last second. We can't make a definitive judgment on his eternal destiny because we just do not know. Really and truly, it is beyond us.

So... well, I pondered this for awhile.

And it seems to me that the best thing to say would be:

"You love your dad so much. Pray, and keep praying, for his well-being and redemption, and that of the whole world.

"We don't know everything, because we cannot look into people's hearts. But we do know this: your dad's soul is in the hands of God. Trust him. This is what all the saints say, 'Trust Him, trust Him.' And God can absolutely be trusted to do the right thing."

[Iscool]

However... we do not know this is what happened to this kid's dad in the ever-lovin' last second. We can't make a definitive judgment on his eternal destiny because we just do not know. Really and truly, it is beyond us.

Very true...And at the same time we can not know who IS in heaven...Anyone can look and sound religious but only God knows what's in a person's heart...

That's why it is not wise to pray to anyone except God...That person may not be where you think he/she is...

[boatbums]

You’re right, that would have been a much better (and kinder) answer for that child than what he was told by the Pope. I think we wouldn’t have heard a word about it had he done so.

Do you get the impression that Pope Francis imagines whatever comes out of his mouth has an automatic infallibility to it by nature of his position? Like he can say no wrong?