The Reality of Hell - Catholic Position (2023)

• By Ray Sullivan
• April 24, 2019
• 6 comments

Many people today deny the reality of hell, as if ignoring it makes it non-existent (don't try this method on the IRS!). But Jesus himself told us about the reality of hell. He said it would be better to gouge out one eye on earth if that makes you sin than to go to hell with two eyes (Marcos 9:47). EmMatthew 5:22, It also says that if you call someone a fool, you will be exposed to hellfire. InMarcos 9:48, He indicates that there are worms there, and the fire never dies. So let's take a look at what four saints, who actually saw visions of hell, have to say about this eternal dungeon of fire and horror.

For the record, what the saints have to say about hell should not be taken as infallible Catholic dogma, or on a par with Holy Scripture. Their revelations are more like a personal commentary on what they saw. So let's see what they have to say.

San Francisco's View of Hell from Rome

Saint Francis of Rome was born in Rome in 1384 and died there in 1440. She had manyvisions of hell. This gift was given to her so that today we could be warned about the dire possibility of going there.

She said that demons are divided in a ratio of one to two. It says that a third of the demons are in hell, and these are the ones who actively fought against Michael and the angels in the war to dethrone God. According to her, the remaining two-thirds of the demons are here on earth and in the air, and these are the ones who stood on the sidelines during the war and refused to take sides (i.e. lukewarm). Those who are in hell can only come to earth with God's express permission, when He wants to punish men most severely for their sins. The demons that are already in the earth can wreak havoc on the weather and are tasked with testing the faith of men and women to see if they can make them sin against God. They are the lowest ranking members of the demons, and our guardian angels fight them daily in their nefarious deeds. These earthly demons will end up in hell, but as they have not openly but passively rebelled, they still do not suffer the pains of hell.

She says that Lucifer is in the lowest place of hell, and that before he was the highest of the Seraphim angels. He is responsible for the sin of pride. Below him in the infernal hierarchy is Asmodeus, the former chief of the Cherubim. His great sin is lust, and his work is to destroy marriages. Next comes Mammon, the former head of Thrones. His great sin is greed. Next comes Beelzebul, the former head of the Dominations. His great sins are idolatry and occultism.

Santa Faustina's Vision of Hell

Santa Faustina was a Polish nun who lived in the early 20th century. her diary,Divine Mercy in My Soulit was the catalyst for Saint John Paul II to declare the Sunday after Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday, when a plenary indulgence for all sins is available to faithful participants. This is whatshe had to say about hellno paragraph 741:

Today I was led by an angel to the abyss of hell. It is a place of great torture; How incredibly large and extensive! The types of torture I saw;

(Video) Catholic Explanation of Hell

• The first torture that constitutes hell is the loss of God;
• The second is perpetual remorse of conscience;
• The third is that one's condition will never change;
• The fourth is the fire that will penetrate the soul without destroying it, a terrible suffering, as it is a purely spiritual fire, ignited by the wrath of God;
• The fifth torture is continuous darkness, and a terrible suffocating smell, and in spite of the darkness, the devil and the souls of the damned are seen and all evil, both of others and of themselves;
• The sixth torture is Satan's constant companion;
• The seventh torture is horrible despair, hatred of God, vile words, curses and blasphemies.

These are the tortures suffered by all the damned together, but this is not the end of their sufferings. There are special tortures intended for particular souls. These are the torments of the senses. Every soul undergoes terrible and unspeakable sufferings related to the way it has sinned. There are caverns and torture pits where one form of agony differs from another. I would have died watching these tortures if God's omnipotence had not sustained me.

Let the sinner know that he will be tortured for all eternity, in those ways he used to sin. I write this by God's command, so that no soul can find an excuse for saying that there is no hell, or that no one has been there, and that no one can tell what it is like.

Sister Josefa Menéndez's Vision of Hell

Sister Josefa was a nun in Spain who lived in the early 20th century. Visions of her are detailed in the Book,The Path of Divine Love. Here's a little bit of whatshe had to say about hell:

“Some cry out for the martyrdom of their hands. Maybe they were thieves, because they say: 'Where is our booty now?'... Cursed hands... Others curse their tongues, their eyes... whatever the occasion of the sin...

“I saw several souls fall into Hell, and among them was a fifteen-year-old girl, cursing her parents for not teaching her to fear God and that Hell existed. Her life had been short, she said, but full of sin, for she had given in to whatever her body and her passions demanded in the way of satisfaction..."

“My soul fell into abysmal abysses, the bottom of which is not seen, because it is immense. . . ; Then I was thrust into one of these pits of fire and pressed, as it were, between burning boards, and sharp nails and red-hot irons seemed to pierce my flesh. I felt like they were trying to get my tongue out but they couldn't.
This torture reduced me to such agony that my own eyes seemed to pop out of their sockets. I think it was because of the fire that burns, burns. . . not a nail escapes terrible torments, and all the time one cannot move a finger for relief, nor change one's posture, because the body seems flattened and [still] bent in two. The sounds of confusion and profanity do not cease for an instant.
A loathsome stench suffocates and corrupts everything, it is like the burning of rotten flesh, mixed with tar and sulphur. . . a mixture to which nothing on earth can compare. . . although these tortures were terrible, they would be bearable if the soul were at peace. But he suffers unspeakably. . . Everything I wrote is just a shadow of what the soul suffers, because no words can express such terrible torment.

“It seemed to me that the majority accused themselves of sins of impurity, of theft, of unfair trade; and that most of the damned are in hell on account of these sins.

“Tonight I was transported to a place where everything was dark. . . Around me were seven or eight people; He could only see them by the fire's reflections. They were sitting and talking together. A demon said, 'We'll have to be very careful that they don't discover us, because they can easily discover us.'
The devil replied: 'Insinuate yourself by inducing their carelessness. . . but stay in the background, so they don't discover you. . . little by little they will become insensitive and you will be able to incline them to evil. He tempts these others to ambition, to self-interest, to acquire wealth without working, whether it's legal or not. Excite some to sensuality and love of pleasure. Let vice blind them. . . As for the rest. . . enter through the heart. . you know the inclinations of their hearts. . . make them fall in love. . love passionately. . work thoroughly. .. do not rest. . . show no mercy Let them stuff themselves with food! It will make everything easier for us. . . Let them get on with their feast. The love of pleasure is the door through which you will reach them. I must hide my presence, work in the dark; any corner will serve to tempt them... close to an ear... in the pages of a book... under a bed... some do not hear me, but I will talk and talk... and by force of suggestion , something will remain... Yes, I must hide in unsuspected places'”.

Saint John Bosco's Vision of Hell

Saint John Bosco was an Italian saint born in 1815. He founded the Salesians, which is an order dedicated to the care of poor children. He hadmany dreamsand visions. One of them was aboutvisiting hell.

He said that the road to hell is very beautiful at first, but always downhill, with many hidden pitfalls for young people. These traps are hard to see, but many children fall into them. As the trail progressed, it got steeper and much uglier. He soon found himself at the gates of hell:

I looked up and read these words: "The place of no forgiveness." I realized that we were at the gates of Hell. The guide took me all over this horrible place. At a regular distance, bronze portals like the first dominated steep descents; on each was an inscription, such as: "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels." (Matthew 25:41) “Every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” (Matthew 7:19)

Then he saw a boy running to hell:

When the boy crashed against the portal, it opened with a roar, and instantly a thousand inner portals opened with a deafening roar, as if he had been hit by a body that had been driven by an invisible gale, very violent and irresistible. While these bronze doors, one after the other, though at a considerable distance from each other, remained momentarily open, I saw in the distance something like the mouths of furnaces, from which balls of fire leaped as the young man ran towards them. . As quickly as they opened, the portals closed again.

Ahead of me I could see something like an immense cave that gradually disappeared into recesses in the bowels of the mountains. They were all on fire, but his was not earthly fire with leaping tongues of fire. The entire cave - walls, ceiling, floor, iron, stone, wood and charcoal - everything was dazzling white in temperatures of thousands of degrees. However, the fire did not incinerate, it did not consume. I just can't find words to describe the horror of the cave. Its food is fire and much wood: the breath of the Lord like a torrent of brimstone that inflames it.

Saint John Bosco said that the way they fell into hell was the body posture they would maintain forever. He knocked on the door of hell on his way out and woke up from the dream with a burn on his hand.

Conclusion

The Church teaches the reality of hell (CCC 1035) by noting,

The main punishment of hell is eternal separation from God, in whom only man can possess the life and happiness for which he was created and for which he longs.

The private revelations of hell, witnessed by the saints, most vividly present to us the reality of hell, the reality of eternal separation from the only source of happiness.

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