 |
Hell in Catholicism is the "state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed" [1] which occurs by the refusal to repent of mortal sin before one's death, since mortal sin deprives one of sanctifying grace. [2]
|
Hell in Catholicism is the "state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed" [1] which occurs by the refusal to repent of mortal sin before one's death, since mortal sin deprives one of sanctifying grace. [2]
In Catholic theology, the term "hell" – translated from Latin infernus, Greek ᾍδηςHades, and Hebrew שְׁאוֹלSheol – can most broadly refer any "abode" where souls, after death, reside who "have not obtained the happiness of heaven". [3] These abodes include the following three:
To these three, theologians historically add a fourth as well: Limbo of the Infants, where souls who die in original sin but without any personal mortal sin reside. [6]
All further references to hell are to its common designation, i.e., Hell of the Damned.
The Catholic Church bases its teaching on hell primarily on various New Testament passages such as Matthew 5:22, 5:29, 10:28, 13:41-42, and 25:41. [7]
The Catholic Church affirms "the existence of hell and its eternity", [8] holding that "those who have responded to the love and piety of God [go] to eternal life, those who have refused them to the end [go] to the fire that is not extinguished". [9] The Catholic Church teaches that the existence of Hell began with the rejection of God by the fallen angels or demons. [10] Human beings who die in the state of mortal sin descend to Hell as well; although, it cannot be known now if a particular human person has died in mortal sin. [11] The Catholic Church teaches that the eternity of Hell is due to the "irrevocable character of [the damned's] choice, and not a defect in the infinite divine mercy". [12] The choice to not love God by the angels at their Fall and by human beings at death is a permanent choice so that no future repentance by them is possible.
In Catholic theology, the writings of the Church Fathers are considered to be sacred tradition. [13]
While many Church Fathers taught that eternal hellfire awaits people who do not repent of sin, [14] [ better source needed ] the history of Christian universalism includes prominent patristic theologians such as Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Gregory of Nyssa.
Some of the Church Fathers listed certain people who go to hell. Ignatius of Antioch said hell awaits "corruptors of families", Clement of Rome neglecters of "his commandments", Justin Martyr "the evildoer, the avaricious, and the treacherous"; Theophilus of Antioch "the unbelievers and [...] the contemptuous and [...] those who do not submit to the truth but assent to iniquity"; Irenaeus "those who do not believe the Word of God and despise his coming"; Hippolytus "lovers of evil"; Lactantius "unrighteous"; and Cyril of Jerusalem "a sinner" who "blaspheme[s] [...] commit[s] fornication [...] [and] rob[s]". [15] [ better source needed ]
The Catholic Church believes an ecumenical council, along with the pope, can under certain circumstances define doctrines infallibly. [16] The Council of Trent taught that "those who commit infidelity, [...] fornicators, adulterers, effeminate, liers with mankind, thieves, covetous, drunkards, railers, extortioners, and all others who commit deadly sins" lose sanctifying grace. [17]
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Catholics owe the bishops obsequium religiosum when they speak non-infallibly. [18]
Pope Pius X taught that the torment of the damned consists in the deprivation of the beatific vision and various punishments, which will afflict the soul before the resurrection of the dead and afflict both body and soul after it, and which will be eternal and terrible for all the damned, but different in degree or measure based on one's sins. [19]
Pope John Paul II taught that hell, which is spoken of symbolically in the Bible, does not just refer to a place, but principally refers to the state of "definitive self-exclusion from God", and that no one can know who is in hell except by special revelation. [20]
Pope Benedict XVI's March 25, 2007 homily on hell was interpreted by some journalists as saying that hell is a place. [21]
According to the Roman Catechism, the damned are eternally deprived of the beatific vision. They will not receive any consolations in hell, escape from the pain of hellfire, or have any company except for the demons that tempted them. [22] No one is predestined to hell, since, for damnation to be even possible, "a willful turning away from God (a mortal sin) is necessary, and persistence in it until the end". [23]
In the Summa Theologica , Thomas Aquinas taught that hell is reserved for the wicked and the unbaptized immediately after death, but that those who die only in original sin will not suffer in hell. [24] On Judgment Day, the punishment of hell will consist of fire and of "whatever is ignoble and sordid", since "all the elements conduce to the torture of the damned", who "placed their end in material things". The worm of the damned is a guilty conscience, that the damned will suffer over the fact of having separated themselves from God, that the damned will physically weep on Judgement Day, that hell is so full of darkness that the damned can only see things which will torment them, that the "disposition of hell" is "utmost unhappiness", that the fire of hell is non-physical (before Judgment Day) and physical (at Judgment Day), that the physical fire of hell will not be made of matter, and that whether or not hell is under the earth is unknown. [25] The suffering of punishment is according to one's sins, so that some will suffer more, in deeper and darker pits of hell, than others. [26]
In Catholicism, saints are people who are venerated for their holiness on earth and eternal life in heaven. Some claimed to receive visions of or about hell.
Columba of Iona (521-597) is alleged to have on several occasions even been able to name particular individuals who he said were going to end life in hellfire for their sins and accurately predicted the way they would die before the event had even happened. [27] [28]
Catherine of Siena (1347-1380), a Doctor of the Church, claimed that Jesus told her that there are four main torments of hell that the other torments of hell proceed from: the loss of the beatific vision, the worm of a guilty conscience, the vision and company of Satan, and the pain of the eternal flames. She also claimed that Jesus told her that the torments of hell are suffered according to one's sins; for example, the vision of Satan is worst for doers of worst sins. [29]
John Bosco (1815-1888) claimed to have dreamed about hell. He said he was walking down a broad pleasant path that was laden with various traps – traps which prayer could prevent and the sacraments could remedy – and that the path suddenly ended in a chasm of fire, where many of the boys he taught were being tormented for their sins. [30]
Faustina Kowalska (1905-1938) claimed to have had visited the "chasms of hell" when her guardian angel took her there, where she saw many people who disbelieved in the existence of hell. [31] Faustina also claimed to have seen Catholic nuns in hell for breaking their vows of silence, [32] as well as souls whom God had marked for great holiness. [33] She further claimed that Jesus told her that, when a sinner repents of sin, Satan flies away to the bottom of hell in fear, [34] and that, when a soul is damned, it plunges Jesus into mortal agony. [35]
In Catholicism, various supernatural appearances by Mary, the mother of Jesus, have been claimed, and some apparitions have been formally approved, such as the famous apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The Catholic Church does not consider approved apparitions, or private revelations, to add anything new to the teaching of Christ and his apostles, or public revelation, and belief in an apparition in never required of the Catholic faithful. [36] [37] In some of these approved apparitions, the visionaries have claim to see Hell.
Sister Lúcia and Francisco and Jacinta Marto claimed that Our Lady of Fatima showed them a vision of hell while declaring: "You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart." [38]
Alphonsine Mumureke claimed that Our Lady of Kibeho took her to hell, which she described as a "most fearsome hot furnace where the only light was a shade of red". [39] [ better source needed ] [40]
In Catholic theology, Limbo is the afterlife condition of those who die in original sin without being assigned to the Hell of the Damned. However, it has become the general term to refer to nothing between time and space in general. Medieval theologians of Western Europe described the underworld as divided into three distinct parts: Hell of the Damned, Limbo of the Fathers or Patriarchs, and Limbo of the Infants. The Limbo of the Fathers is an official doctrine of the Catholic Church, but the Limbo of the Infants is not. The concept of Limbo comes from the idea that, in the case of Limbo of the Fathers, good people were not able to achieve heaven just because they were born before the birth of Jesus Christ. This is also true for Limbo of the Infants in that simply because a child died before baptism, does not mean they deserve punishment, though they cannot achieve salvation.
Damnation is the concept of divine punishment and torment in an afterlife for sins that were committed, or in some cases, good actions not done on Earth.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church is a reference work that summarizes the Catholic Church's doctrine. It was promulgated by Pope John Paul II in 1992 as a reference for the development of local catechisms, directed primarily to those responsible for catechesis and offered as "useful reading for all other Christian faithful". It has been translated into and published in more than twenty languages worldwide.
In the teaching of the Catholic Church, an indulgence is "a way to reduce the amount of punishment one has to undergo for (forgiven) sins". The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes an indulgence as "a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions…"
The problem of Hell is an ethical problem in the Abrahamic religions of Christianity and Islam, in which the existence of Hell or Jahannam for the punishment of souls in the afterlife is regarded as inconsistent with the notion of a just, moral, and omnipotent, omnibenevolent, omniscient supreme being. Also regarded as inconsistent with such a just being is the combination of human free will, and the divine qualities of omniscience and omnipotence, as this would mean God would determine everything that has happened and will happen in the universe—including sinful human behavior.
According to Catholicism, a venial sin is a lesser sin that does not result in a complete separation from God and eternal damnation in Hell as an unrepented mortal sin would. A venial sin consists in acting as one should not, without the actual incompatibility with the state of grace that a mortal sin implies; they do not break one's friendship with God, but injure it.
A mortal sin, in Christian theology, is a gravely sinful act which can lead to damnation if a person does not repent of the sin before death. It is alternatively called deadly, grave, and serious; the concept of mortal sin is found in both Catholicism and Lutheranism. A sin is considered to be "mortal" when its quality is such that it leads to a separation of that person from God's saving grace. Three conditions must together be met for a sin to be mortal: "Mortal sin is sin whose object is grave matter and which is also committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent." The sin against the Holy Spirit and the sins that cry to Heaven for vengeance are considered especially serious. This type of sin is distinguished from a venial sin in that the latter simply leads to a weakening of a person's relationship with God. Despite its gravity, a person can repent of having committed a mortal sin. Such repentance is the primary requisite for forgiveness and absolution.
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.28 to 1.39 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2024. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions and has played a prominent role in the history and development of Western civilization. The church consists of 24 sui iuris churches, including the Latin Church and 23 Eastern Catholic Churches, which comprise almost 3,500 dioceses and eparchies around the world. The pope, who is the bishop of Rome, is the chief pastor of the church. The Diocese of Rome, known as the Holy See, is the central governing authority of the church. The administrative body of the Holy See, the Roman Curia, has its principal offices in Vatican City, a small independent city-state and enclave within the city of Rome, of which the pope is head of state.
In Christianity, contrition or contriteness is repentance for sins one has committed. The remorseful person is said to be contrite.
A culture of life describes a way of life based on the belief that human life begins at conception, and is sacred at all stages from conception through natural death. It opposes abortion, euthanasia, capital punishment, studies and medicines involving embryonic stem cells, and contraception, because they are seen as destroying life. It also promotes policies that "lift up the human spirit with compassion and love." The term originated in moral theology, especially that of the Catholic Church, and was popularly championed by Pope John Paul II; it has been widely used by religious leaders in evangelical Christianity as well. The philosophy of such a culture is a consistent life ethic.
The Miraculous Medal, also known as the Medal of Our Lady of Graces, is a devotional medal, the design of which was originated by Catherine Labouré following her apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal of Paris, France.
In Christian theology, Hell is the place or state into which, by God's definitive judgment, unrepentant sinners pass in the general judgment, or, as some Christians believe, immediately after death. Its character is inferred from teaching in the biblical texts, some of which, interpreted literally, have given rise to the popular idea of Hell. Theologians today generally see Hell as the logical consequence of rejecting union with God and with God's justice and mercy.
In Christian theology, a private revelation is an instance of revelation, in a broader sense of the term, of divine reality to a person or persons. It contrasts with revelation intended for humanity at large, which is sometimes termed public revelation.
Catholic theology of sexuality, like Catholic theology in general, is drawn from "natural law", canonical scripture, divine revelation, and sacred tradition, as interpreted authoritatively by the magisterium of the Catholic Church. Sexual morality evaluates sexual behavior according to standards laid out by Catholic moral theology, and often provides general principles by which Catholics can evaluate whether specific actions meet these standards.
Prayer in the Catholic Church is "the raising of one's mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God." It is an act of the moral virtue of religion, which Catholic theologians identify as a part of the cardinal virtue of justice.
Catholic theology is the understanding of Catholic doctrine or teachings, and results from the studies of theologians. It is based on canonical scripture, and sacred tradition, as interpreted authoritatively by the magisterium of the Catholic Church. This article serves as an introduction to various topics in Catholic theology, with links to where fuller coverage is found.
The Ten Commandments are series of religious and moral imperatives that are recognized as a moral foundation in several of the Abrahamic religions, including the Catholic Church. As described in the Old Testament books Exodus and Deuteronomy, the Commandments form part of a covenant offered by God to the Israelites to free them from the spiritual slavery of sin. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church—the official exposition of the Catholic Church's Christian beliefs—the Commandments are considered essential for spiritual good health and growth, and serve as the basis for Catholic social teaching. A review of the Commandments is one of the most common types of examination of conscience used by Catholics before receiving the sacrament of Penance.
The deposit of faith is the body of revealed truth in the scriptures and sacred tradition proposed by the Roman Catholic Church for the belief of its members. The phrase has a similar use in the U.S. Episcopal Church.
Purgatory is a passing intermediate state after physical death for purifying or purging a soul. A common analogy is dross being removed from gold in a furnace.
In Christianity, heaven is traditionally the location of the throne of God and the angels of God, and in most forms of Christianity it is the abode of the righteous dead in the afterlife. In some Christian denominations it is understood as a temporary stage before the resurrection of the dead and the saints' return to the New Earth.
First Alphonsine Mumureke and then Nathalie Mukamazimpaka said to have made a 'mystical journey' together with the Virgin Mary for several hours, travelling through places which they described in a symbolic language, reminding us of realities such as hell, purgatory and heaven, but using vocabulary different from that of the catechism.