Pope Benedict XVI gave assurances that Hell exists and is not empty, while addressing a group of priests.Nothing new here, since in 2007 he had mentioned the existence of the Inferno as a real place, evenwhile his predecessor John Paul II had rejected the idea.
The pope, while meeting with priests of Rome to note the beginning of Lent, sent a message to the faithful: "Hell exists", and salvation is not certain and will not come to all. It was for this reason that he wanted to point out the possibility of Hell as a reality.
"Hell, of which little is spoken nowadays, exists and is eternal", said the pontiff in April 2007.
This is an idea that appears to run contrary to that proposed by the preceding leader of the Church, as well as now-deceased Swiss theologian Hans Urs Von Baltasar.
John Paul II addressed the traditional idea of Hell in the summer of 1999 when he treated on the themes of Heaven, Purgatory, Hell, and Satan, in four audiences.
Said the Polish pope, "heaven is not a physical place in the clouds". Hell is then not "a place", but "the situation of someone who has distanced himself from God".
Purgatory, for John Paul II, is a provisional condition of "purification" and not found on a map.
And as for Satan, "he is defeated: Jesus has liberated us from our fear of him".
One of the priests at the meeting in Rome asked whether the Church should again take up a debate about sin, Hell, and life after death.
Pope Benedict XVI made it clear that salvation is not guaranteed.
"No all of us will present ourselves equally at the banquet in Paradise", and many will have to be purified before "facing the Final Judgement".
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