Diabolical lie

In his column of November 2nd, Friar Bento Domingues stated that the faithful departed are “all, all, all, as Pope Francis would say.” The former Roman pontiff used this expression to say that all are called to belong to the Church, through their conversion and Baptism, but not in the sense that the commemoration of the faithful departed is universal, as the author of the column intends. In reality, by faithful departed the Church understands those Christians – if they were not, they would not be faithful either – who, having been saved, have not yet attained the beatific vision and, therefore, undergo the purification necessary for that purpose.

Although the reality of purgatory is not explicitly stated in Sacred Scripture, it is part of Sacred Tradition, the other source of divine revelation, because the Catholic Church has always prayed for the faithful departed, that is, it has admitted the existence of souls who, having been saved, have not yet reached Heaven and, therefore, need our prayers. As the aforementioned chronicler wrote, “Some people would go to heaven to enjoy the eternal joy of God. Others would have to be purified by fire to be able to enter heaven. Still others, who died in mortal sin, would go to hell, to eternal suffering. ”

This was and is, in effect, the understanding of the Catholic Church for two thousand years, for it has never doubted the existence of two diametrically opposed eternal destinies: salvation and damnation (Mt 25:31-47; Lk 16:19-31). Nor has it ever been questioned that there is a temporary stage of purification for souls who, having been saved, are not yet qualified for the beatific vision.

The existence of hell and its eternity were recently confirmed by the solemn Magisterium of the Church: “The doctrine of the Church affirms the existence of Hell and its eternity. The souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend immediately after death into hell, where they suffer the pains of hell, the 'eternal fire'.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church , no. 1035). This compendium of faith was compiled by a team of experts headed by Benedict XVI, perhaps the greatest contemporary Catholic theologian, and approved by Saint John Paul II.

The author of the aforementioned column is a veteran commentator on religious topics, but he is neither a theologian nor an academic, and therefore has neither the competence nor the authority to dissent from the principles of Catholic doctrine. He has every right to express his ideas on whatever he wants, as long as he makes it clear that they are merely personal opinions which, in this case, contradict the doctrine of the Church to which he is supposed to belong.

According to Bento Domingues, the "representations" of heaven, hell, and purgatory "belong to specific moments in religious history that still survive in many places: people who are completely fulfilled, others who need purification, and others condemned forever."

It is true that the illustration of these possible destinies was frequently done through images that, obviously, cannot be understood in their literal sense. Jesus, referring to Heaven, sometimes uses the image of a banquet (Mt 22:1-14; Lk 14:16-24), which obviously makes no sense in relation to souls still deprived of their glorious bodies. He also compares hell to the fire of the garbage dump at the gates of Jerusalem (Mt 18:8; Mk 9:43) and alludes to weeping and gnashing of teeth (Mt 13:42-43, 49; Lk 13:28-29), which, obviously, is metaphorical, insofar as the condemned, before their bodies are resurrected, which will only happen at the final judgment, cannot suffer bodily punishments, but only spiritual ones.

The fact that the examples chosen for this purpose are illustrative of the greatest happiness and the worst misfortune, respectively, does not mean, however, that these states – which are not places – are not real, as the author of the aforementioned chronicle claims, attributing such conceptions to the ignorance of believers: "imagination dared to know more than it knows." There is some mockery on the part of the chronicler towards what he understands to be the fruit of the imagination and ignorance of believers, but perhaps the "learned ignorance" – in the felicitous expression of Saint Augustine (Ep. 130, 14, 27 – 15, 28) – of the faithful, which he ridicules, is wiser than the foolish wisdom of those who consider themselves, in the manner of the Pharisees and doctors of the law of Jesus' time, masters and lords of Catholic doctrine.

To justify his disbelief in hell and purgatory, Bento Domingues states: “The conceptions that fueled them cannot claim to be part of truly Christian theology. Eternal damnation is an offense against the revelation of the First Letter of St. John (4:8, 16): God is love. Everything that is said in Christian theology can never deny this eternal affirmation. It is not hell that is eternal. Eternal is the love that God has for us.”

It is understandable that the author does not wish to admit the existence of hell, nor its eternity, but this attitude not only lacks any theological foundation, but also contradicts the necessity of salvation. Indeed, if there is a truth stated in Sacred Scripture (John 5:29, etc.); corroborated by Sacred Tradition; reaffirmed by the Fathers of the Church; and constantly and universally taught by the Magisterium of the Church, it is precisely that Heaven exists, to which Christ is the way (John 14:6), and its opposite, hell, from which He came to save us. To deny the possibility of damnation is to render the Incarnation of the Word useless; His preaching futile; His teachings and miracles superfluous; His passion, death, and resurrection sterile; His Law and commandments ineffective; His Church unnecessary; the Sacraments useless; etc., etc., etc. In other words, the real possibility of eternal damnation is not a dubious “metaphor” that can be dispensed with, but the necessary presupposition for the salvation achieved by Jesus on the Cross and realized through ecclesial mediation. If there were no possibility of eternal damnation, Christ and his Church would be meaningless.

But isn't it true that the love that God is (1 John 4:8, 16) seems to contradict the possibility of eternal damnation?! Precisely because God is love, He became incarnate, redeemed us through His Holy Cross, and, through His glorious resurrection, gave us the possibility of attaining eternal life. But He did so respecting our freedom, which is the reason that explains the possibility of human beings refusing the grace of salvation. Those who are condemned are not, after all, those who cannot be saved, in whose case they might deserve compassion, but those who did not want to be saved. Everyone, without exception, including non-Catholics, can be saved in Christ (Luke 13:22-30); only those who consciously and voluntarily reject salvation are condemned, as happened with the demons, and therefore are not innocent of their eternal unhappiness.

According to the columnist, “heaven, hell, purgatory, the final judgment are metaphors for human desires and fears. They are exaggerated representations of the afterlife, reflecting the best and worst of this world.” Contrary to what he claims, they are not projections of the human imagination, just as God's love is not metaphorical, but the transcendent reality revealed by Jesus Christ and witnessed by his Church.

Yes, there is a hell, and its punishments are eternal ( Catechism of the Catholic Church , nos. 1033-1037, 1022, 393, etc.). There is also the devil, who “was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). And when a lie compromises the salvation of men, it can be said, without exaggeration, that it is truly diabolical.