Denver Catholic

23 DENVER CATHOLIC | APRIL 28-MAY 11, 2018 Pope Francis: Hell-denier? No. S o the Pope has a friend — a rather colorful friend — with whom he likes to chat period- ically. This friend, unfortunately, is also a journalist. A 94-year-old journal- ist who prides himself on never recording conversa- tions or taking notes, and instead "reconstructs" conversations after the fact. Which all may have been well and good when he was in his 40's. But half a century later, it's probably time for him to hang up this particular parlor trick. Lest he get someone in trouble. I don't know what the Holy Father actually said in his most recent con- versation with Eugenio Scalfari. But Scalfari's reconstruction has the Supreme Roman Pontiƒ strongly implying that hell does not in fact exist — that the souls of the damned simply cease to exist at the moment of death. This, as one might imagine, is causing quite a few headaches at the Vatican. I have no idea what the Holy Father said in this particular conver- sation, and I have no interest in trying to figure it out. I would much rather stick with what I know, based on mul- tiple on-the-record, actual, verifiable, don't-need-to-be-walked-back-by- the-Vatican statements that Pope Francis has made over the years. And that is this: the Holy Father does indeed believe what the Church teaches about death, judgment, heaven and hell. What's more, he has made some pretty profound state- ments on the subject. I was particularly struck by his answer, a few years ago, to a young woman who asked him how hell could exist if God forgives everyone. He acknowledged it was a good question, told her about the fall of Satan, and then said, "He wanted God's place. And God wanted to forgive him, but he said, 'I don't need your forgiveness. I am good enough!'" He went on to say, "This is hell. It is telling God, 'You take care of your- self because I'll take care of myself.' They don't send you to hell, you go there because you choose to be there. Hell is wanting to be distant from God because I do not want God's love. This is hell." This is the Church's teaching, beautifully stated. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that hell is the "state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed." (CCC 1033) God created us for Himself. But we need to freely choose him, or our union with him would be meaningless — a form of captivity. If we are free, our options must be meaningful, not just illusions. And in this life, we can choose to follow him or not. Hell is quite simply the conse- quence of choosing "not God" in this life. It's not a "place" we can locate on a map, any more than heaven is. It is a state of being. I have no idea what it is like, except that it is utterly separated from God. God is the source of all good. God is compassion. God is love. God is beauty. That lack of beauty, love and compassion and every other good, is hell. It couldn't be pleasant. God doesn't "send" us to hell. We choose it, by the way we live our lives. I don't know what that final scene looks like, but I have often heard spec- ulation that, to the condemned soul, the possibility of spending eternity beholding the face of the God they rejected is so painful that they them- selves, in that moment, choose exclu- sion from His presence. God didn't choose it for them. They did. I find that oddly comforting. I have sometimes been amused to find that some of the same people who condemn the "everybody gets a trophy" mentality in youth sports, also subscribe to an "everybody goes to heaven" theology of the afterlife. Do we really believe that God is the "everybody gets a trophy" guy? That he put us here on this earth with no goal beyond doing whatever we like for the better part of a century or so? And that, at the end, it makes no diƒerence how we have behaved, or whether we lived his love or not? That our "reward" is actually mean- ingless? That all — good and evil and in-between — are equally rewarded for how we used our time here? I don't believe that. I believe he placed us here with a goal, and that goal is him. And we either make it or we don't. Fortunately, I have it on pretty good authority that Pope Francis believes the same thing. Guest Column Bonacci is a syndicated columnist based in Denver and the author of We're On a Mission from God and Real Love. MARY BETH BONACCI POETRY The reading and memori- zation of poetry were common practices not too long ago. Joseph Pearce hopes to get us read- ing beauti- ful, classic poems again with his Poems Every Catholic Should Know (TAN, 2016). He includes the poetry of some great saints, such as Francis, Gertrude and Robert Southwell, and Catholic art- ists such as Dante, Chaucer and Hop- kins, as well as other great writers of the English language. LITERATURE Dr. Joshua Hren, pro- fessor of literature at Belmont College, has founded a new Catholic press to publish both classic and contem- porary works of Catholic fiction, Wise- blood Books. An accomplished writer himself, he recently released a collection of short stories, This Our Exile (Angelico, 2017). In the line of Flannery O'Connor, Hren uses the violent a²ictions of our culture to contemplate our pilgrimage through this place of exile, hoping to arrest us into a greater awareness of life's underlying spiritual realities. THE ETERNAL PILGRIMAGE When people ask me what great classic of lit- erature they should read first, without hesitation I answer: Dan- te's Divine Comedy (though it helps to read Virgil first). Wyoming Catholic College professor Jason Baxter oƒers an entry point into the work with his A Beginner's Guide to Dante's Divine Comedy (Baker, 2018). Baxter oƒers a won- derful introduction to Dante and a section by section commentary. Just as Virgil and Beatrice guided Dante, so some extra support helps to catch the Divine Comedy's historical and spiritual references. AN ACTUAL PILGRIMAGE! The United States has a richer Cath- olic culture than we might expect. We can experience firsthand the great heritage left behind by these Cath- olic settlers by going on pilgrimage! Santa Fe, N.M., oƒers many amazing treasures, as well as the beautifully situated missions of California. For a vade mecum while visiting these mis- sions, see Stephen Binz' Saint Juni- pero Serra's Camino: A Pilgrimage Guide to California Missions (Francis- can Media, 2017). You can also come with me to the Louvre on my Saints, Monks, and Beer pilgrimage this Octo- ber (rtijourneys.com).

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