Pope Francis Denies that Hell Is ‘a Place,’ Says It Is ‘a Posture Towards Life’

LifeSite News ^ | 3/16/23 | Michael Haynes

[marshmallow]

The pope's latest scandalous comments contradict the teachings of the Church Fathers on the existence of Hell.

VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — In an interview to mark his 10-year anniversary, Pope Francis appeared to deny the existence of Hell, saying that “is not a place” but is instead simply “a state of the heart” and “a posture towards life.”

The pontiff’s comments formed part of a lengthy conversation conducted by Argentinian news site Perfil, one of a number of recent interviews the Pope granted journalists to mark his decade upon the papal throne. Touching on a number of topics he discussed with other reporters, Francis also spoke about his philosophical and theological thought, along with aspects relating to global politics.

As part of the in-depth discussion, Francis was asked, “What is your own interpretation of Hell and paradise, and what happens to people who go to Hell, and what happens to those who go to paradise?”

Giving a trademark lengthy, convoluted, and somewhat evasive answer, Francis appeared to deny the existence of Hell as an actual place. “Hell is not a place,” he said. “If one goes to attend the Last Judgment, and sees the faces of those who go to Hell, one gets scared. If you read Dante, you get scared. But these are media representations.”

Expanding on his answer, Francis described Hell simply as “a state” — a description which appeared to refer to a state of mind. “Hell is a state, there are people who live in Hell continuously.”

He clarified that he was not referring to suffering generally, but to “those who make a world of bad or sick self-referentiality, and end up living in Hell.”

Hell is a state, it is a state of the heart, of the soul, of a posture towards life.......

[nwrep]

Maybe if you had one inkling of the one true faith that gave you the bible that Mad Marty cut up you wouldn’t say something so ridiculous.

Sorry, I did not mean to offend anyone. The sentiment expressed above was not meant to be controversial, nor is it particularly novel, having been around in the Reformed tradition for 500 years. All the best.

[circlecity]

“ The Catholic Church decided which books went in the Bible”

No they didn’t. Athanasius In his 39 festive letter identified the current canon well before the the counsel of Carthage. And he presented it as already common knowledge.

[Jonty30]

I don’t think I’m wrong. We are not unconditionally immortal. Our natural existence is non-existence. I’m not a Church of God believer, just a Bible believer.

The teaching of the immortality of the soul goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden, when the Serpent explicitly denied God’s warning to Adam and Eve, “You shall not surely die”.

I believe, based on our creation, that we were made to always need the Tree of Life in order to live an immortal life. Absent the tree, we begin to die.

Don’t think that I don’t think the unsaved aren’t punished. They are. Once destroyed, they will never be resurrected. There is no amount of time that will pass when God says, “That is enough time for him.”

This is an old newsletter by scholar, Samuel Bacchiocchi, on the topic of death.

https://archive.org/details/Samuele-Bacchiocchi-Endtime-Issues-Newsletter-005

[Elsie]

How does one compartmentalize that?

[Elsie]

Daniel 12:2
And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

What?

I thought Christians went to either heaven or purgatory when they die??

[Elsie]

Mary is a powerful intercessor with her Son, but she does not have the power to control events.

Then there is a typo that needs corrected in 1 Timothy 2:5.

[Elsie]

Mary is a powerfulintercessor with her Son, but she does not have the power to control events.

But she's made these PROMISES...

 

---

The 15 promises

(Given to St. Dominic and Blessed Alan de la Roche)

1	Whoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall receive powerful graces.
2.	I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the Rosary.
3.	The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies
4.	It will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of people from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things. Oh, that souls would sanctify themselves by this means.
5.	The soul which recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall not perish.
6.	Whoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying Himself to the consideration of its Sacred Mysteries shall never be conquered by misfortune. God will not chastise Him in His justice, he shall not perish by an unprovided death; if he be just, he shall remain in the grace of God, and become worthy of eternal life.
7.	Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the Sacraments of the Church.
8.	Those who are faithful to recite the Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plentitude of His graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the merits of the Saints in Paradise.
9.	I  shall deliver from purgatory those who have been devoted to the Rosary.
10.	The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in Heaven.
11.	You shall obtain all you ask of me by the recitation of the Rosary.
12.	All those who propagate the Holy Rosary shall be aided by me in their necessities.
13.	I  have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors the entire celestial court during their life and at the hour of death
14.	All who recite the Rosary are my children, and brothers and sisters of my only Son, Jesus Christ.
15.	Devotion of my Rosary is a great sign of predestination.

 

"The Most Holy Virgin in these last times in which we live has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary to such an extent that there is no problem,

no matter how difficult it is, wheter temporal or above all spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families...that cannot be solved by the Rosary.

There is no problem, I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary."

Sister Lucia dos Santos

[Elsie]

I thought it best to refer to an ‘authentic’ source.

[Elsie]

You are welcome.

[Elsie]

I tried finding it, but everything that looked promising turned out to be Japanese anime stuff.

[Elsie]

Well, if we can predate Peter as being the first pope, we can assert anything we want into the timeline.

—Wannabe_Catholic_dude(Hail Mary!)

[Elsie]

I believe, based on our creation, that we were made to always need the Tree of Life in order to live an immortal life. Absent the tree, we begin to die.

Yeah. The Book gives some clue about this...

Genesis 3:21-24

21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” 23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

[Elsie]

Have you ever wondered what would have happened if Adam had sampled ALL N-1 trees in the garden (including the ToL) before he munched on the forbiden one??

---

Genesis 2:15-17

15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

[Elsie]

Revelation 22:1-2

1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

[Albion Wilde]

Shocking ignorance and heresy.

Impeach 266!

[Elsie]

Does that mean twelve DIFFERENT crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month??

or just one type; twelve times a year??

https://www.wideopeneats.com/fruit-cocktail-tree/

[Jonty30]

He was only forbidden from partaking of one tree. I don’t think there was anything special about the Tree of Knowledge, other than it was a gateway sin to all the other sins of mankind.

My essential understanding is that you need continual access to the Tree of Life in order to live forever. A one-time access will only hold off death for whatever time the fruit is good for. It’s vitamins and minerals, you need a continual supply in order to stay healthy.

[MomwithHope]

Monsignor Pope has a good read on hell today. You can’t beat Thomas Aquinas. https://blog.adw.org/author/cpope/

[Albion Wilde]

Respectfully, I disagree. It may be that hell was prepared for the devil and his angels, but at the final Judgment, others will join them there. Jesus taught us that we should act in His Name and by His Will with charity towards others, and those who did not demonstrate their belief in Him through those actions are in jeopardy at the Last Day. We have not yet arrived at the imposition of the Mark of the Beast, but it is quite obviously looming. Those who have received the mark will not go to heaven. What is the mark, and where is it located — in the material world, or in the spiritual world? Is it invisible to us—a mark beside our name in the Book of Life? (see Revelation 20:11-21)

Matthew 25:
The Final Judgment

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.
32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.

34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,
36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’

37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?
38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?
39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’
40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’
44 Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’

45 Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’
46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

[Albion Wilde]

This is why Sola Scriptura is important. Something Catholics need to learn from the Reformers and start doing Bible studies instead of wasting time praying over statues of saints. If you don’t, you become like this guy.

Amen and amen!