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)

 

[:thinking:]

Clearly his Holiness has never been to Michigan.

Or the capital of Finland.

 

[Male Idiot]

There were medeival beleifs that the faithful would be ressurrected and others would simply not get an afterlife so this is not a brand new development.

 

[ModeloEspecial]

There were medeival beleifs that the faithful would be ressurrected and others would simply not get an afterlife so this is not a brand new development.

No one is clear what Hell is, and it's likely the Pope only said the traditional concept of hell (fiery landscape where demons torture you) doesn't exist, not that there isn't a hell.

 

[Bass]

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?

Yes. In fact the last pope was in charge of it iirc. They need to bring Benedict out of retirement.

 

[Bum Driller]

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

IIRC, this actually is the definition of "Hell" according to certain catholic philosophers and theologians. In essence, that Hell is the state of absolute separation from God and total annihilation of one's individual existence. Ironically, certain theistic satanists claim that this means that Hell is thus the absolute form of enlightenment.

 

[Elwood P. Dowd]

Scary thing is if Benedict had said this I'd have immediately called bullshit. Pope Hippie I, however? Has an air of believability.

 

[usernames can change now!]

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

For the record, Papal Infallibility does not work that way

According to Catholic theology, there are several concepts important to the understanding of infallible, divine revelation: Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition, and the Sacred Magisterium. The infallible teachings of the Pope are part of the Sacred Magisterium, which also consists of ecumenical councils and the "ordinary and universal magisterium." In Catholic theology, papal infallibility is one of the channels of the infallibility of the Church. The infallible teachings of the Pope must be based on, or at least not contradict, Sacred Tradition or Sacred Scripture.

 

[COLEGAY TOOTHPISS]

Or the capital of Finland.

 

[XYZpdq]

For the record, Papal Infallibility does not work that way

iirc he has to do a special song and dance to go to Infallible Mode, too

 

[Wraith]

iirc he has to do a special song and dance to go to Infallible Mode, too

He needs at least three catlick clerics to cast buff spells on him so he can tank the little boys.

Spoiler

I REGRET NOTHING!

 

[Your Weird Fetish]

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

I thought all you gnostic heretics were cleansed a long time ago.

 

[Ineedahero]

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

IIRC, this actually is the definition of "Hell" according to certain catholic philosophers and theologians. In essence, that Hell is the state of absolute separation from God and total annihilation of one's individual existence. Ironically, certain theistic satanists claim that this means that Hell is thus the absolute form of enlightenment.

It is how nirvana is described. Not the absence of God bit, but the total annihilation and removal from the universe.

 

[ModeloEspecial]

It is how nirvana is described. Not the absence of God bit, but the total annihilation and removal from the universe.

That's not how Nirvana is described

 

[Ravenor]

Clearly his Holiness has never been to Michigan.

Or Blackpool.

For the record, Papal Infallibility does not work that way

A while ago I read a few papers on the subject of Papal infallibility and the whole As said on earth is True in Heaven thing,
And a few of them made the argument that from about 1650 - 1750 onwards that the popes have been fallible due to certain diversion in the faith at those times and it was a compound thing that they built upon each other unintentionally and it's broken that compact.

Now I am not religious in any way but I find religions interesting from an Amature Anthropology standpoint, and I listened to an interview and following TV series by a British Comedian called Andy Hamilton who has an ongoing Radio comedy called Old Harrys game that makes a big point of humanising God and Satan and normalising or explaining human behaviours that are normal but disliked by Faiths in general.

 

[Computery Guy]

This is complete bullshit. The journalist involved takes no notes and is a noted atheist.

I hope the reddit gold he's gonna get will be worth the blacklistings he's about to eat.

 

[Yop Yop]

Hell is real because I'm posting on it

 

[Ineedahero]

That's not how Nirvana is described

What do you think happens when you get removed from the wheel transcend this plane and become one with everything in the universe?

 

[ICametoLurk]

I thought all you gnostic heretics were cleansed a long time ago.

Fuck the Demiurge

 

[Bum Driller]

What do you think happens when you get removed from the wheel transcend this plane and become one with everything in the universe?

Technically speaking you're right in such a sense, that this is the connection theistic satanists make between Hell and enlightenment. While they probably have invented this idea based on buddhism, it's quite unclear if any buddhist would actually see nirvana in this way.