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Hell: grand inauguration spring 2008

Earlier this year Pope Benedict XVI said, "hell is a place where sinners really do burn in an everlasting fire, and not just a religious symbol designed to galvanise the faithful". By contrast, in 1999 Pope John Paul II said hell was, "the ultimate consequence of sin itself. Rather than a place, hell indicates the state of those who freely and definitively separate themselves from God, the source of all life and joy".

According to the catholic dogma of papal infallibility, which states that by action of the Holy Spirit, the Pope is preserved from even the possibility of error when he solemnly declares a dogmatic teaching on faith, one would be forced to conclude that Pope John Paul II was right when he said hell wasn't a real place and Pope Benedict XVI was also right when he stated that, contrary to what the previous pope had said, hell was, after all, a real place indeed. So does this means hell was created sometime earlier this year?

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Comment by Suzanne on August 23, 2008 at 8:42pm: Maybe hell just froze over for a couple of years.

Comment by DaVinci on August 5, 2008 at 12:36pm: Hell was not a very well thought out concept. But neither was heaven.

Comment by David Potter on July 27, 2008 at 9:08am: How does the Pope get around the fact that HELL violates the second law of thermodynamics? It requires an energy source to burn anything, and not even a NUCLEAR powered hell would last forever.

Even if you said that the flames of hell were powered by a "spiritual energy", that energy would STILL have to obey the laws of physics; and in particular, the second law of thermodynamics. Otherwise, if it obeys no laws at all, then anarchy rules - and it would be just as appropriate to say that hell is freezing over - as it would be to say it is burning.

The easiest explanation to accept, of course, is that HELL is just an imaginary place; used to scare grownups and little kids. And it is useful of course, for getting the Pope what he wants.

Comment by Brad Feaker on July 23, 2008 at 1:51pm: Hi Rosa,

It's Hell 2.0 - new and improved gehenna for the torture of the godless!!!

Comment by Madeline (Brigit) on July 22, 2008 at 10:01pm: Can't imagine the energy bill. Would purgatory be like a sauna then?

Comment by sam on July 22, 2008 at 7:22am: dope benedict apparently hasn't read Dante

Comment by Jennie on July 22, 2008 at 2:14am: Good eye Rosa!

Well, with all considered, I believe hell was regarded as an actual place prior to Pope John Paul II, so it appears hell was temporarily disabled from 1999 until 2008.