Science Reporter claims Pope said "Hell Does Not Exist" - Vatican responds "Fake News"

http://metro.co.uk/2018/03/29/hell-not-exist-says-pope-francis-7427113/

Yup, the fiery afterlife you were all destined for has been put on ice by none other than the Pope himself.

In a conversation with a 93-year-old atheist at the Vatican, Pope Francis, gave the answer to all your prayers.

‘Hell doesn’t exist,’ the Pontiff told Eugenio Scalfari, the founder of one of Italy’s leading newspapers.

Instead, the Pope says the souls of the unrepentant will simply disappear forever and go unpunished.

Mr Scalfari’s conversation with Francis is one of a series being reported in La Repubblica.

They’ve already caused controversy in Italy, prompting the Vatican to clarify what Mr Scalfari has reported.

The veteran journalist has retired as editor but still writes for the paper he founded.

His exclusive conversations with the Pope are reconstructed from memory as he doesn’t take notes or recordings.

‘They are not punished, those who repent obtain the forgiveness of God and go among the ranks of the souls who contemplate him,’ Francis reportedly said.

‘But those who do not repent, and therefore cannot be forgiven, disappear.’

The mercy of God has been at the heart of Francis’ five-year long pontificate.

But his startling admission about the afterlife will likely cause outrage among hard line Catholics, who practise a faith based on the severity of God’s judgment.

For centuries, traditional Catholic doctrine has told followers that those who die in a state of mortal sin will land themselves in Hell’s ‘unquenchable fire’.

For centuries? You mean millennia, right?

To think that hundreds of thousands of people have lived radical lifestyles and died horrible deaths all for nothing.

Papal Infallibility is a strange concept considering all these bombshells that change everything.

Update (Mod edit): Vatican says this was fabricated

https://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN1H52H8

Vatican rebukes journalist who quoted pope as denying hell
Philip Pullella

Pope Francis leads the Chrism Mass on Holy Thursday during which sacred oils are blessed at Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican March 29, 2018.
REUTERS/STEFANO RELLANDINI/FILE PHOTO
(Reuters) - The Vatican on Thursday rebuked a well-known Italian journalist who quoted Pope Francis as saying hell does not exist.

The Vatican issued a statement after the comments spread on social media, saying they did not properly reflect what the pope had said.

Eugenio Scalfari, 93, an avowed atheist who has struck up an intellectual friendship with Francis, met the pope recently and wrote up a long story that included a question-and-answer section at the end.

The Vatican said the pope did not grant him an interview and the article "was the fruit of his reconstruction" not a "faithful transcription of the Holy Father's words".

Scalfari, the founder of Italy's La Repubblica newspaper, has prided himself on not taking notes and not using tape recorders during his encounters with leaders and later reconstructing the meetings to create lengthy articles.

According to Scalfari's article in Thursday's La Repubblica, he asked the pope where "bad souls" go and where they are punished. Scalfari quoted the pope as saying:

"They are not punished. Those who repent obtain God's forgiveness and take their place among the ranks of those who contemplate him, but those who do not repent and cannot be forgiven disappear. A Hell doesn't exist, the disappearance of sinning souls exists."

The universal catechism of the Catholic Church says "The teaching of the Catholic Church affirms the existence of hell and its eternity." It speaks of "eternal fire" and adds that "the chief punishment of hell is eternal separation from God".

It was at least the third time the Vatican has issued statements distancing itself from Scalfari's articles about the pope, including one in 2014 in which the journalist said the pontiff had abolished sin.

(Reporting by Philip Pullella; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

 

[Alec Benson Leary]

Papal Infallibility is a strange concept considering all these bombshells that change everything.

He's not invoking that here though, so it's not binding. This is basically just the equivalent of the pope writing a puff-piece for a shitty website.

Spoiler

A crime for which he will surely go to hell.

 

[Rumpled Foreskin]

“The veteran journalist has retired as editor but still writes for the paper he founded.

His exclusive conversations with the Pope are reconstructed from memory as he doesn’t take notes or recordings.“

So...this could all be made up? Lol ok

 

[Your Weird Fetish]

Haha suck it Jehovah this guy got me out on a technicality.

 

[Dirt McGirt]

This Pope has turned out to be such a killjoy.

 

[TowinKarz]

Clearly his Holiness has never been to Michigan.

 

[Medicated]

If theres no hell then, I can be like those fundamentalists now and kill and rape whoever I want to because I'm no longer bound by the laws of the afterlife! woooot

 

[Mason Verger]

It's seems stupid that the high sparrow can just make up new rules on the fly, but I've been catholic long enough to know that that's pretty much all a pope does.

 

[Slap47]

So...this could all be made up? Lol ok

Just like hell.

 

[ModeloEspecial]

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/...hat-pope-francis-denied-reality-of-hell-53450

I really doubt the Pope said this

 

[Wraith]

https://www.cnsnews.com/blog/michael-w-chapman/pope-francis-there-no-hell

Well this is going big.

This moron is literally calling Jesus, one of the foundational things of Christianity, an open faced liar. Not only did Christ mention hell a bunch, but there is that non-parable parable about the beggar Lazarus and the rich man, and so forth.
I'm going to need some .
I'm not an atheist, but dis gonna b fun. I want to know from some Catlicks from my past what they think of this.

Assuming this is a real story.

 

[Red Hood]

Isn't a lot of the Roman Catholic church's (any church really) ritual and dogma essentially biblical fanfiction anyway? My take on varying sects of Christian faith is that each is trying to interpret and make sense of what we've been handed down though we're bringing our own perspectives and biases to the table.

 

[Audit]

Yup, the pope is a heretic. Now tell me, didn't there used to be an organization in the Catholic church to deal with such things?

 

[CWCchange]

Clearly his Holiness has never been to Michigan.

If there wasn't a town with such a namesake, your post is still applicable.

 

[CausticMinory]

Of course hell exists, we live it everyday.

 

[Zbk3VmLfujjzjxBd43tL]

What did you expect the Pope to say to his atheist friend? "Eugenio, my bud, you better repent soon because when you die, God's gonna boot you downstairs. You will soon be roasting in hell in burning agony with his Satan and his demons forever and ever." That wouldn't be very polite.

 

[CrunkLord420]

What's even the point of Catholicism, then?

 

[Sylvie Paula Paula]

Hell doesn't exist because we already live in it.

 

[Bagronkleton]

What's even the point of Catholicism, then?

Same two core things that all massive organized religions ultimately boil down to: influence and money.

 

[Audit]

Look, if the pope wanted a PC thing to say, he could have used a more modern depiction of hell that involves pure and total separation from god. In essence, some believe that rather than getting set to a fiery pit, you get chucked into a wasteland and get to spend eternity with yourself and all of the other unsavory individuals. In this case, hell is nothing more than a reflection of how terrible you were as a person and all of the sinners will punish themselves, no demons needed.