One of the most unpleasant Catholic theological issues to talk about is perhaps one of the most important issues to talk about.

HELL

It’s part of the traditional Catholic teaching on the 4 Last Things

This hell of a resource is meant to fulfill my obligation as a Catholic writer to talk about this topic. I have borrowed thoughts from Catholic thinkers who think better than I do about this topic. I think it best to start off with

What the Church Officially Teaches About the 4 Last Things….

Catechism of the Catholic Church – PART 1 SECTION 2 CHAPTER 3 ARTICLE 12 (scborromeo.org)

1051 Every man receives his eternal recompense in his immortal soul from the moment of his death in a particular judgment by Christ, the judge of the living and the dead.

1052 “We believe that the souls of all who die in Christ’s grace . . . are the People of God beyond death. On the day of resurrection, death will be definitively conquered, when these souls will be reunited with their bodies” (Paul VI, CPG § 28).

1053 “We believe that the multitude of those gathered around Jesus and Mary in Paradise forms the Church of heaven, where in eternal blessedness they see God as he is and where they are also, to various degrees, associated with the holy angels in the divine governance exercised by Christ in glory, by interceding for us and helping our weakness by their fraternal concern” (Paul VI, CPG § 29).

1054 Those who die in God’s grace and friendship imperfectly purified, although they are assured of their eternal salvation, undergo a purification after death, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of God.

1055 By virtue of the “communion of saints,” the Church commends the dead to God’s mercy and offers her prayers, especially the holy sacrifice of the Eucharist, on their behalf.

1056 Following the example of Christ, the Church warns the faithful of the “sad and lamentable reality of eternal death” (GCD 69), also called “hell.”

1057 Hell’s principal punishment consists of eternal separation from God in whom alone man can have the life and happiness for which he was created and for which he longs.

1059 “The holy Roman Church firmly believes and confesses that on the Day of Judgment all men will appear in their own bodies before Christ’s tribunal to render an account of their own deeds” (Council of Lyons II [1274]:DS 859; cf. DS 1549).

1060 At the end of time, the Kingdom of God will come in its fullness. Then the just will reign with Christ for ever, glorified in body and soul, and the material universe itself will be transformed. God will then be “all in all” (1 Cor 15:28), in eternal life.

And Now Here Are What Some Others Have to Say About the Four Last Things.

Our temporal, physical lives are framed by a beginning (birth) and an ending (death). Yet Christians have the hope of a continued life beyond physical life – like a frame beyond a frame. This latter meta-frame provides context and meaning to the complex picture of our temporal stories within lifespan frames, and it’s the Last Things that tie together all the strands of this multilayered framework. So, let’s take a look at them one by one. Rick Becker  10 Things to Know About Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell| National Catholic Register

Death

“It is not Death that will come to fetch me, it is the good God. Death is no phantom, no horrible specter, as presented in pictures. In the catechism it is stated that death is the separation of soul and body, that is all! Well, I am not afraid of a separation which will unite me to the good God forever.” St. Therese of Lisieux
11 Unforgettable Quotes from Saints on Death and Purgatory – EpicPew

It appears to me unnecessary to say much about the terrors of death. The subject has been sufficiently enlarged upon by various writers; besides, everyone knows and feels for himself that life is sweet and death is bitter. However old a man may be, however broken in health, however miserable his circumstances, the thought of death is an unwelcome one.

It is because the soul has to separate itself from the body. Body and soul were created for each other, and so intimate is their union that a parting between them seems almost impossible. They would endure almost anything rather than be torn asunder.
The Four Last Things: Death, Judgment, Hell, Heaven, by Father Martin von Cochem

The great woman Doctor of the Church. Saint Catherine of Siena stated: “The two most important moments of our life are now and at the hour of our death. Amen.” Of course this reminds us of the prayer that the Blessed Mother loves so much—the Angelic Salutation commonly known as the Hail Mary.Given that the moment we die is of the greatest importance for every living human person, and that our eternal destiny depends on how we die, how we finish our brief earthly sojourn, we must all make a sincere, calm, serene, but also sober and serious effort to arrive at the end of our lives in the grace of God.

Therefore, let us converse calmly, serenely, and confidently on the all-important topic of our mortality, on the reality of death that nobody in this earthly residence can avoid.
Fr. Ed Broom DEATH THE GATEWAY TO ETERNAL LIFE (Nov 05 2019)

Pope Francis said that in contemplating death we are reminded of our ultimate purpose – and how the choices we make here on earth will determine whether we eventually spend eternity in heaven.
“A fundamental mark of the Christian is a sense of anxious expectation of our final encounter with God,” the Pope said Nov. 3. “Death makes definitive the ‘crossroads’ which even now, in this world, stands before us: the way of life, with God, or the way of death, far from him.”
CNA Daily News Choose everlasting life, not death, Pope Francis says (November 3, 2017)   Catholic News

Death is an evil chapter, but it is by no means the final one. And so it makes good sense, while we are alive, still thinking, still choosing, still setting our course, to write the story of our lives like a good author: with some plan in mind. The details and the characters need to work themselves out, but the major plot points ought to be settled ahead of time. Happy new year! You’re going to die.
Simcha Fisher Happy new year! You’re going to die. (January 1, 2019) I Have to Sit Down

“We priests do a lot of wakes and funerals, and I’ve seen all sorts of things go in the casket.”  He understood the natural impulse some people have to place objects representing a favorite activity in the casket.  “A football helmet, a baseball glove, a fishing rod…I’ve seen it all,” he continued.

Nothing wrong with celebrating the fun we’ve had.  But will it help at all at the moment of judgment?  Probably not.  It’s crucial that we are aware that the things and activities we love aren’t what our eternity is based on.
Patty Knap The Things We Put in the Casket (MAY 15, 2018)   Born Again Catholic

The experience of many who are aware that they are approaching the end of life from illness or advanced age. Death is drawing near, but the feeling remains that death may not really be final. We are reminded of the haunting and perceptive words of the great Christian poet T. S. Elliot, “In my end is my beginning,” and we hope. What actually happens at the moment of bodily death and after becomes of overwhelming importance to us all when a dear relative or friend dies. The question that haunts our minds, that cannot be put aside, is: Will I ever see my loved one again? Even the agnostics and atheists among us have trouble freeing themselves of this question.

It is sin, not death, that is to be feared; that physical death for the devout Christian is an inevitable part of life, one that should hold no terror for us because it has become an element of God’s great work of redemption. Through the Resurrection of Christ, bodily death is irrevocably defeated, transformed from our destroyer into our sister, our friend who embraces us gently and opens for us the pathway to a life in which no harm can ever again befall us.

This is the most important thing in your life and in mine. Where will we be and where will those dear to us be in that reality beyond this world of limited time and space? Every thinking believer ought to be interested and even deeply concerned about what happens to us next. In His parables, our blessed Savior very frequently spoke of death and the Last Judgment, warning people to be ready, to be prepared. I hope this book will help you as you prepare yourself for that inevitability, that reality which is so much more profound than the passing shadow we call our life here on earth, that reality for which we have all been made.

Fr. Benedict Groeschel,  After This Life: What Catholics Believe About What Happens Next (2009) Our Sunday Visitor

My isolation has given me time to think about how we are all going to die one day; we just don’t know when. It is easy to ignore death when we are young or in good health, but sickness and other disasters force us to recognize our finitude. A pandemic makes it impossible not to think about death.

Death is the great leveler; it affects the rich and poor, the famous and the humble, the powerful and the weak, saints and sinners.
The Latin “Memento mori” — “Remember death” — was said to victorious Roman generals, lest they become arrogant and ambitious. The phrase was picked up by spiritual writers to remind Christians that someday they will face judgment.

St. Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits and a great spiritual guide, recommended meditating on death as part of his “Spiritual Exercises,” a series of meditations to help a person on retreat come closer to God and discover what he wants us to do. Ignatius asks the retreatant, if you were on your deathbed looking back on your life, what decisions do you wish you had made? This helps the retreatant review past decisions but, more importantly, think about future decisions.
Thomas Reese, Meditating on death during a pandemic (Mar 23, 2020) Signs of the Times: ncronline.org

Memento mori is an ancient tradition dating back to the early church that involves one reflecting upon their death daily. That may sound a bit morbid…but it is quite a useful practice that has been encouraged by numerous saints through the centuries. What are the benefits? By spending some time each day remembering that indeed one will die and leave this earthly (no matter how hard we try to ignore that fact), we can regain a focus on what is truly important in this life. It allows us to put into check the consumeristic culture we are entrenched in and instead focus on the eternal life we are striving for after breaking the chains of this world.
Pete Socks Remember Your Death: Memento Mori Lenten Devotional (March 9th, 2019) Catholic Book Blogger

Judgment

‘As often I consider the day of judgement, I tremble. Whenever I eat or drink, or whatever else I do, that terrible trumpet appears to sound in my ears, “Arise, ye dead, and come to judgement.”‘ St. Jerome
Saints’ Quotes – Selections – General Judgement

The just man who is truly concerned about his eternal salvation will from time to time think of his future Judge. He will meditate before death overtakes him upon the account he will have to give of his life.
The Four Last Things: Death, Judgment, Hell, Heaven, by Father Martin von Cochem

We must believe as Catholics that there is what the Church refers to in the Catechism (1022) as the “particular judgment” immediately upon the death of each human person. We must also acknowledge as Catholics that there will be what the Church refers to as the Final Judgment at the end of time, in which all will be judged corporately and publicly. According to Sacred Scripture, this is clearly separate and distinct from the particular judgment. Judged, Then Judged Again | Catholic Answers Magazine

CCC 1021 Death puts an end to human life as the time open to either accepting or rejecting the divine grace manifested in Christ.⁵⁹⁰ The New Testament speaks of judgment primarily in its aspect of the final encounter with Christ in his second coming, but also repeatedly affirms that each will be rewarded immediately after death in accordance with his works and faith. the parable of the poor man Lazarus and the words of Christ on the cross to the good thief, as well as other New Testament texts speak of a final destiny of the soul -a destiny which can be different for some and for others.⁵⁹¹

1022 Each man receives his eternal retribution in his immortal soul at the very moment of his death, in a particular judgment that refers his life to Christ: either entrance into the blessedness of heaven-through a purification⁵⁹² or immediately,⁵⁹³-or immediate and everlasting damnation.⁵⁹⁴

At the evening of life, we shall be judged on our love.⁵⁹⁵

Heaven

Heaven is a wonderful place, and we should all strive to get there. But perhaps the most encouraging “heavenly” quote of all comes from St. Therese of Lisieux, “The Little Flower,” who pointed out that as glorious as heaven is, God finds the presence of his children infinitely more desirable: “Our Lord does not come down from heaven every day to lie in a golden ciborium. He comes to find another heaven which is infinitely dearer to him—the heaven of our souls, created in his image, the living temples of the adorable Trinity.”
Kirsten Andersen –10 Quotes from the Saints on What Heaven Will Be Like

Metaphorically speaking, heaven is understood as the dwelling-place of God, who is thus distinguished from human beings (cf. Ps 104:2f.; 115:16; Is 66:1). He sees and judges from the heights of heaven (cf. Ps 113:4-9) and comes down when he is called upon (cf. Ps 18:9, 10; 144:5). However the biblical metaphor makes it clear that God does not identify himself with heaven, nor can he be contained in it (cf. 1 Kgs 8:27); and this is true, even though in some passages of the First Book of the Maccabees “Heaven” is simply one of God’s names (1 Mc 3:18, 19, 50, 60; 4:24, 55).

The depiction of heaven as the transcendent dwelling-place of the living God is joined with that of the place to which believers, through grace, can also ascend, as we see in the Old Testament accounts of Enoch (cf. Gn 5:24) and Elijah (cf. 2 Kgs 2:11). Thus heaven becomes an image of life in God. In this sense Jesus speaks of a “reward in heaven” (Mt 5:12) and urges people to “lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven” (ibid., 6:20; cf. 19:21).
St. Pope John Paul II– Heaven, Hell and Purgatory | EWTN

There is no greater happiness upon earth than to love and be loved, and the more tender, pure and ardent this love is, the greater the joy and delight it affords us. Now the love of Heaven, the love of the redeemed for God and for one another, is the most tender, the purest, the most ardent affection, an affection infinite and boundless; consequently, it is a source of immense delight and happiness unspeakable. May the God of all grace make us partakers of this love, and we shall then know by experience that of which words fail to convey an idea. No one will be privileged to partake in this love, unless here below he lives in the love of God, and dies in His friendship. Let us therefore strive to increase within us this Divine charity, that we may be admitted hereafter to the full enjoyment of His love.
The Four Last Things: Death, Judgment, Hell, Heaven, by Father Martin von Cochem

“Only God is guaranteed. All who seek him find him. But only those who seek him find him: ‘You will seek me and find me; when you seek me with all your heart, I will be found by you, says the Lord.’ Finding him is heaven. Seeking him is heaven’s door. Not finding him is hell, and not seeking is the door to hell. The road to hell is not paved with good intentions but with no intentions, with ‘I don’t give a damn’ or ‘the hell with it.”
—PETER KREEFT Heaven, the Heart’s Deepest Longing (1980)

The great glory of the saints is the burning charity they hold toward the wayfaring soul — even us sinners. They have not ceased to yearn for your salvation since before you called upon them for aid. They still labor — if it can be called labor — for your eternal felicity and joy. At one with God, their only longing is to share this peace with more souls. Our Blessed Mother above all tenderly desires your union with all the saints in Christ. As the perfect mother, she burns with love for your soul.

Consider the sound of their chorus to which they invite you, rising infinitely in praising the mercy of God. The most beautiful and exquisite music you have ever heard is like foul noise in comparison. Once, St. Francis heard the sound of an angel playing an instrument, and he nearly died for joy. Consider the beauty of the voice of the Virgin Mother above all the rest. De Sales says, “even as the newly-fledged nightingale learns to sing from the elder birds, so by our sacred communing with the Saints we shall learn better to pray and sing the praises of the Lord”.

Consider, too, the hope of finding in that heavenly country the loved ones we have lost. The baptized children who were lost before the age of reason will run to you. Perhaps others whose loss you have suffered will greet you — a departed father or mother or even a spouse. If they have gained eternal life, then without a doubt they have longed for you and prayed for you as all the saints. Consider the love of all the saints, beckoning you to lift your heart to paradise and come.
Timothy Flanders A Reflection on the Glory of Paradise (December 30, 2019) One Peter Five

Heaven is usually identified with absolute joy and happiness, the ultimate paradise. A place where you will be at peace for all eternity. If this is true, how come we spend so much time and energy trying to avoid going there? I mean we hook people up to machines just to keep them alive, keeping them from experiencing eternal joy. I remember when my mom was getting older and was starting to fade. My siblings and I were with her one day. She looked at us and said: “I know you are all praying for me to get better, but I want you to stop. I am praying for God to take me home and I do not want him to get mixed messages.”
Patrick Carolan Building Heaven on Earth, Part 2 (October 9, 2017) Franciscan activist

Some of us like to speculate about how awesome the Resurrection of the Body will be—wondering whether we’ll be able to bilocate or walk through walls! As the mom of seven kids, I make my joke about how my resurrected body will definitely give me a waist again.

Heaven is not simply a reward for living a good life, comparable to a transaction or a prize. Heaven is measured by the soul’s ability to withstand the love of God. Like eyes adjust to a bright light, the soul must adjust to the unrestrained love of God in heaven. We prepare our souls when we learn, know, and actively participate in God’s love in this earthly kingdom. God’s love is self-gift, and this is manifested through the gift of self to our neighbors.

Melinda Ribnek Our mission through an eschatological lens – Where Peter Is (Melinda is a normal wife and mother of 7 kids)

C. S. Lewis said that the serious business of heaven is joy. Amid all the boring and esoteric theological discussions, and amid all the confusion of twenty-first-century “pop” spirituality, we sometimes forget this powerful idea. I think it’s time we reminded ourselves.

I love traveling. I love the research, the planning, and even the packing that go into taking a trip. Ever since I can remember, I’ve been blessed with the spirit of wanderlust and the love of adventure.  Well, if heaven is anything, it’s a place.  Yes, I know about all the speculation that heaven is really just a “state of mind,” and that we should concentrate on “living” heaven “here and now.” But that’s not what the Bible teaches nor what Christian theologians have taught for two millennia. The one consistent and universal belief about heaven since the beginning of Christianity is that it is a place. A real, honest-to-goodness, physical place.

Some people might object to comparing heaven to a vacation spot, thinking that it “trivializes” a profoundly important subject. But Christ himself made ample use of travel imagery in the parables he told—indeed, the New Testament is full of people journeying through ancient Palestine, trudging from town to town with their walking sticks, searching for lost sheep, riding along dusty roads on donkeys, and sailing on the Sea of Galilee. All we’re doing here is replacing these old modes of travel with some new ones—we’re trading in the chariots for jet planes and the fishing boats for cruise ships!

Anthony DeStefano, A Travel Guide to Heaven (2003) The Crown Publishing Group

 Purgatory

In following the Gospel exhortation to be perfect like the heavenly Father (cf. Mt 5: 48) during our earthly life, we are called to grow in love, to be sound and flawless before God the Father “at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints” (1 Thes 3: 12f.). Moreover, we are invited to “cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit” (2 Cor 7: 1; cf. 1 Jn 3: 3), because the encounter with God requires absolute purity.

Every trace of attachment to evil must be eliminated, every imperfection of the soul corrected. Purification must be complete, and indeed this is precisely what is meant by the Church’s teaching on purgatory. The term does not indicate a place, but a condition of existence. Those who, after death, exist in a state of purification, are already in the love of Christ who removes from them the remnants of imperfection (cf. Ecumenical Council of Florence, Decretum pro Graecis:  DS 1304; Ecumenical Council of Trent, Decretum de iustificatione:  DS 1580; Decretum de purgatorio:  DS 1820).

It is necessary to explain that the state of purification is not a prolungation of the earthly condition, almost as if after death one were given another possibility to change one’s destiny. The Church’s teaching in this regard is unequivocal and was reaffirmed by the Second Vatican Council which teaches:  “Since we know neither the day nor the hour, we should follow the advice of the Lord and watch constantly so that, when the single course of our earthly life is completed (cf. Heb 9: 27), we may merit to enter with him into the marriage feast and be numbered among the blessed, and not, like the wicked and slothful servants, be ordered to depart into the eternal fire, into the outer darkness where “men will weep and gnash their teeth’ (Mt 22: 13 and 25: 30)” (Lumen gentium, n. 48).
St. Pope John Paul II– Heaven, Hell and Purgatory | EWTN

I pray a Rosary every Sunday for people in Purgatory. It takes quite a while, since I name every single person I know who has died, and I mean died, ever. I include great-great-grandparents I never met and friends of friends.
It’s the least I can do for them. I only hope that when I die, someone will take the time to pray for me.

There are many theories about Purgatory, all of them far more authoritative than mine. But my belief is that in Purgatory we face what we have done from the viewpoint of those we did it to. If, say, you hit someone, in Purgatory you would experience the blow you gave in this life. If you gossiped about someone, in Purgatory you will feel the humiliation and hurt your words inflicted.

It would be terrible enough to experience this in this life. But in Purgatory, I think our souls will be so tender and so pure that the pain will be even more exquisite.

The souls in Purgatory are not being tortured. They are being educated about their real selves. They are seeing themselves as they are, and this insight hurts. It is the deepest grief imaginable to confront the full reality of your own sins. But from this grief comes conversion of a thorough and unalterable kind.
Rebecca Hamilton Divine Mercy Novena, Praying for Those in Purgatory, Where We are Made Fit for a King (April 10, 2015) Public Catholic

When God sees the Soul pure as it was in its origins, He tugs at it with a glance, draws it, and binds it to Himself with a fiery love that by itself could annihilate the immortal soul. In so acting, God so transforms the soul in Him that it knows nothing other than God; and He continues to draw it up into His fiery love until He restores it to that pure state from which it first issued. These rays purify and then annihilate. The soul becomes like gold that becomes purer as it is fired, all dross being cast out. Having come to the point of twenty-four carats, gold cannot be purified any further; and this is what happens to the soul in the fire of God’s love
p. 79-80 The Treatise on Purgatory From, Catherine of Genoa: Purgation and Purgatory, The Spiritual Dialogue (Classics of Western Spirituality)

The fires of hell, the suffering fires of purgatory, and the all-consuming bliss of beatitude are one thing, the same One. When the soul is freed from the confines, and limits, and filter of the physical body, it rushes back to the Love from whence it proceeded. That soul’s experience of His presence will be hell, purification, or the light of beatitude, depending on its conformity or lack of conformity to God’s love.

Is purgatory, then, something to be feared or welcomed? My own thought is that, whatever the pains may be, I find that I cannot fear them. God will do with me whatever he knows to be best, and whatever that may be, there is nothing I want more than that he should do so.

I am a sinner in need of much grace, but I believe the Lord has wrought this much in me: Whenever I think about my death, which is neither very frequent nor very infrequent, I believe the prayer of my heart echoes the words of our Lord and our Lady: “In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum; fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum” (“Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit; let it be done to me according to your word”).
Deacon Steven D. Greydanus What is Purgatory, Really?| National Catholic Register

–Sonja Corbitt  Purgatory is a Person – SpiritualDirection.comIt has traditionally been taught that the pains of purgatory include the denial of the Beatific Vision, the fullness of communion with God. Some have taken this to mean that the souls in purgatory have no communion with God at all. Taken to the extreme, purgatory has sometimes been imagined as temporary hell.

I cannot think that. Whatever pains purgatory may entail, I think purgatory must be joyful, inasmuch as those undergoing purgation belong to Christ and are united with him and share in the communion of the saints.

The souls in purgatory belong to the Church, the communion of saints, which is communion in God, and therefore communion with God and with the blessed in heaven, even if the Beatific Vision in its fullness is not yet theirs.

and

HELL

Abandon Hope, All Ye Who Enter Here*

Midway through the journey of our life, I found myself within a dark wood, for I had wandered off the straight path. . . . How I entered there I cannot say. . . . But when I reached the foot of a hill that rose up at the end of the valley, my heart plunged in deep fear. . . . A figure presented itself to my eyes. . . . “You will have to go by another road,” he said to me. . . . “If you want to escape this wilderness . . . I will be your guide and lead you from here to an eternal place, where you will listen to cries of despair and see ancient tormented spirits who lament forever their second death.” . . . And I said to him: “Poet, I implore you . . . help me escape this evil. . . . Lead me to the place you speak of so I may . . . see those whom you say are full of sorrow.” Then he set out, and I kept close behind him.

—FROM THE OPENING CANTO OF DANTE’S INFERNO (AUTHOR’S TRANSLATION)

In 1868, St. John Bosco claimed to have had a dream about hell. His full narration is fairly long, so here is just a short excerpt:

“As soon as I crossed its threshold, I felt an indescribable terror and dared not take another step. Ahead of me I could see something like an immense cave which gradually disappeared into recesses sunk far into the bowels of the mountains. They were all ablaze, but theirs was not an earthly fire with leaping tongues of flames. The entire cave – walls, ceiling, floor, iron, stones, wood, and coal – everything was a glowing white at temperatures of thousands of degrees. Yet the fire did not incinerate, did not consume. I simply can’t find words to describe the cavern’s horror. […]

“[My guide] seized my hand, forced it open, and pressed it against the first of the thousand walls. The sensation was so utterly excruciating that I leaped back with a scream and found myself sitting up in bed.

“My hand was stinging and I kept rubbing it to ease the pain. When I got up this morning I noticed that it was swollen. Having my hand pressed against the wall, though only in a dream, felt so real that, later, the skin of my palm peeled off.

“Bear in mind that I have tried not to frighten you very much, and so I have not described these things in all their horror as I saw them and as they impressed me. We know that Our Lord always portrayed Hell in symbols because, had He described it as it really is, we would not have understood Him. No mortal can comprehend these things.”
Church Pop 5 Saints Who Had Terrifying Visions of Hell

“Eternal damnation”, therefore, is not attributed to God’s initiative because in his merciful love he can only desire the salvation of the beings he created. In reality, it is the creature who closes himself to his love. Damnation consists precisely in definitive separation from God, freely chosen by the human person and confirmed with death that seals his choice for ever. God’s judgement ratifies this state.-
St. Pope John Paul II– Heaven, Hell and Purgatory | EWTN

Christ spoke about hell eleven times in the Gospels, and he described it in the strongest possible terms.2 He made it clear that hell exists, not figuratively, not metaphorically, not mythologically, but literally. There are souls of human beings there right now, as you read these words. And someday, after what Christians call the “resurrection of the dead,” more people will be in hell, not just spiritually, but in bodily form as well.
Anthony DeStefano, Hell: A Guide (2020) Thomas Nelson

It is impossible for mortal man to understand how this can be so great an affliction for the damned.

Yet such is the teaching of the Fathers; they all maintain that there is nothing which the lost bewail so bitterly as being shut out forever from the vision of God. Whilst we live in this world, we think but little of the vision of God, and what it would be to us to be deprived of it eternally. This arises from the bluntness of our perception, which prevents us from comprehending the infinite beauty and goodness of God, and the delight experienced by those who behold Him face to face. But after death, when we are freed from the trammels of the body, our eyes will be opened, and we shall at least to some extent perceive that God is the supreme and infinite Good, and the enjoyment of Him our highest felicity.
The Four Last Things: Death, Judgment, Hell, Heaven, by Father Martin von Cochem

“[The truth of God] is the essential nature of both heaven and hell. Heaven is truth embraced, hell is truth refused. Thus we could even say that heaven and hell are the same objective reality, experienced in opposite subjective ways. Metaphorically, heaven and hell are the same place. Think of the dwarfs at the end of The Last Battle [the seventh Narnia-book]. Or think of a rocker and a opera buff sitting side by side at a rock concert or an opera. What is hell to one, is heaven to the other. So the very fires of hell may consist of the eternal truth and goodness and love of God, that is ultimate reality; every creature’s ultimate other. Those wo have cultivated what Lewis calls «the taste for the other,» love it when it finally appears. Those who have suppressed and resented this taste are shocked and squashed by the other. Like Sartre, in «No Exit,» proclaiming the precise creed of the damned; «hell is the others.»” Time and Eternity,”
Peter Kreeft The Nature Of Hell (June 30, 2006) jimmyakin.com

We know that hell is real, through Scripture and Tradition, but it should be our utmost hope, in Christian love, that all men, no matter how awful, have somehow opened themselves up to the salvation which God has offered to them.  No one knows the internal life of a man, except he himself, and God.
It is important to remember the torments of hell, for in fact we can know of at least one soul who truly “deserves hell,” our own.  With our sins ever before us, we should always seek out the Lord and His forgiveness, working out our salvation in fear and trembling, and loving our neighbor and praying for them, and seeking their prayers for us, never hoping for their damnation any more than we would hope for our own.
Ryan Adams Against Hope in Damnation (November 2, 2013) Summa

Apart from the Incarnation, God does not have a bodily, physical form from which one can be absent or present. It seems to me that speaking of being separated from God here refers to spiritual separation from him–some form of eternal opposition toward God rather than being in union with him in our hearts.

If the eternal separation of hell is understood this way then it could be compatible to say that all are ultimately confronted with the reality of God and, for those who are spiritually united (in harmony) with him it is a wonderful, glorious experience, while for those who are spiritually separated (in opposition) from him it is an unpleasant, painful experience.

I would therefore put the kind of thing that you and Peter are articulating in the category of permitted speculation about the nature of hell. It is one way of trying to envision and understand hell.
Jimmy Akin: The Nature Of Hell (June 30, 2006) jimmyakin.com

Think of God’s life as a party to which everyone is invited, and think of Hell as the sullen corner into which someone who resolutely refuses to join the fun has sadly slunk. What this image helps us to understand is that language which suggests that God “sends” people to Hell is misleading. As C.S. Lewis put it so memorably: the door that closes one into Hell (if there is anyone there) is locked from the inside not from the outside. The existence of Hell as a real possibility is a corollary of two more fundamental convictions, namely, that God is love and that human beings are free. The divine love, freely rejected, results in suffering. And yet, we may, indeed we should, hope that God’s grace will, in the end, wear down the even the most recalcitrant sinner.
Bishop Robert Barron IS HELL CROWDED OR EMPTY? A CATHOLIC PERSPECTIVE (Mar 30, 2011) Word on Fire

Belief in Hell scares the hell out of me. For those Christians who no longer believe in it…well, I sincerely hope they have a change of heart before discovering too late that, yep, it’s a damned thing.
Larry D A Good Way To End Up In Hell Is To Deny It Exists (July 20, 2015) Acts of the Apostasy

There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says, in the end, “Thy will be done.” All that are in hell chose it. Without that self-choice there could be no hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. To those who knock it is opened. ”
C. S. Lewis, The Great Divorce (1945)

So how many are saved?

There are several different theological positions on this matter.

I’m firmly convinced of the value for theological discussion of vigorously arguing the traditional view that some and even many go to hell—and hearing what the optimists have to say in response. At the same time, when presenting the teaching of the Church, we should be aware of the flexibility that is being displayed on this matter, including by the recent popes.
–Being Precise About Church Teaching on Hell – Jimmy Akin

Most Will Be Damned

Several of the Fathers of the Church consider that from the fact that at the time of the deluge only eight persons were saved, at the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah only four namely, Lot, his wife and his two daughters escaped with their lives, and of the six hundred thousand able men who departed out of Egypt not more than two reached the Promised Land, the others all dying in the desert, it may be concluded that the number of the elect amongst Christians will be proportionately small. This agrees with what Saint John Chrysostom said on one occasion when he was preaching in the city of Antioch: “What think you, my hearers, how many of the inhabitants of this city may perhaps be saved? What I am about to say is very terrible, yet I will not conceal it from you. Out of this thickly populated city with its thousands of inhabitants not a hundred will be saved; I even doubt whether there will be as many as that. For what indifference we see amongst the aged, what wickedness amongst the young, what impiety amongst all classes of people.”

Such words as these may well make us tremble. We should hesitate to believe them, did they not come from the lips of so great a Saint and Father of the Church. And if it is true that in the first five centuries, when the zeal and devotion of Christians was much more fervent than it is now, so small a number attained everlasting salvation, what will it be in our own day, when crime and vice prevail to so fearful an extent?
‘The Four Last Things: Death, Judgment, Hell, Heaven, by Father Martin von Cochem

In Matthew, chapter seven, he says, “Broad and wide is the way that’s leading to destruction. Many are traveling that way. Narrow is the door that leads to life, difficult is the road, and few there are who are finding it.” Now, Jesus didn’t say this because he was happy about the situation. He didn’t say it because this is how it has to be. But when you look out on the world as it is, many, many people are not honoring God. They’re not believing in Jesus. They’re not living righteous lives.

There’s only two final destinations, and life isn’t a game. It’s a time to kind of get redeemed, or not to get redeemed. And Our Lady of Fatima, all her warnings. She showed the children a vision of hell, and it changed their life forever. They became so concerned about the salvation of the souls. You know, little Saint Jacinta, a day didn’t go by where she said, “Have you made any sacrifices today?” She said, “It’s so terrible that souls go to hell.” And Mary said, “Pray very much, because so many souls are going to hell because so few people are praying and offering sacrifice for them.”

Ralph Martin– Do People Really Go To Hell? | Catholic Answers Podcasts

Will Many Be Saved?: What Vatican II Actually Teaches and Its Implications for the New Evangelization  by Ralph Martin

Most Will Be Saved

 Benedict XVI also took an optimistic view regarding hell in his 2007 encyclical Spe Salvi. He states:

There can be people who have totally destroyed their desire for truth and readiness to love, people for whom everything has become a lie, people who have lived for hatred and have suppressed all love within themselves. This is a terrifying thought, but alarming profiles of this type can be seen in certain figures of our own history. In such people all would be beyond remedy and the destruction of good would be irrevocable: this is what we mean by the word Hell (n. 45).

He then contrasts these with people who are so pure they go straight to heaven and then concludes:

Yet we know from experience that neither case is normal in human life. For the great majority of people—we may suppose—there remains in the depths of their being an ultimate interior openness to truth, to love, to God (n. 46).

 Jimmy Akin Being Precise About Church Teaching on Hell –

All Will Be Saved

I imagine, that the understanding of eternal damnation openly espoused in Christian culture has grown gradually but constantly more emollient over the centuries. At one time, in very late antiquity, Western Christians could speak with firm if dour certitude of a place of real physical and mental agony to which the vast majority of the race would be consigned at the end of days and to which even babies would be sent forever and ever if they were so thoughtless as to die unbaptized. Today only a relatively tiny if obstinate remnant of believers finds that notion tolerable. Already by the high Middle Ages, the roasting babies had been mercifully plucked from the flames and transferred to a “limbo of infants” where, though forever denied the beatific vision, they would nonetheless enjoy perfect natural contentment. And since then, even in regard to unrepentant adult souls, Christians have grown increasingly uncomfortable with the thought that God actively wills eternal suffering, and many have come to adopt the idea that, although hell is eternal, its doors are locked only from the inside (to use C. S. Lewis’s imagery): the damned, that is, freely choose their perdition, out of a hatred of divine love so intense that they prefer endless torment; and so God, out of his fastidious regard for the dignity of human freedom, reluctantly grants them the dereliction they so jealously crave.

Needless to say, in this view the fire and brimstone have been quietly replaced by various states of existential unrest and resentfully guarded self-love. This all sounds quite reasonable (unless, one thinks about it deeply). But it also demonstrates that many Christians know that something is incorrigibly amiss in the very concept of eternal torment, as otherwise they would not feel the need to absolve God of any direct responsibility for its imposition. Anyway, it is well past time Christians abandoned the etiquette of hell. It has never been anything more than a strategy for sparing themselves the unpleasant task of confronting the real implications of the beliefs they profess.

That All Shall Be Saved: Heaven, Hell, and Universal Salvation (2019) David Bentley Hart,  Yale University Press

Dare We Hope

All To Be Saved

“Dare We Hope?” FAQ page – Word on Fire

Dare We Have a Conversation About Hope? | Mark Wilson (patheos.com)

Mark Brumley –
Han Urs von Balthasar’s “Dare We Hope That All Men Be Saved?”
on Inside the Pages Discerning Hearts

“What I am going to say is not a dogma of faith but my own personal view: I like to think of hell as empty; I hope it is.”
-Pope Francis on a Italian television program.

 “Gregory of Nyssa, in contrast, tries to advance philosophical and theological arguments to prove that the pains of hell cannot be co-eternal with God. His main argument is based on the essential superiority of good over evil; for evil, in its essence, can never be absolute and unlimited. The sinner inevitably reaches a limit when all his evil is done and he cannot go farther, just as the night, after having reached its peak, turns toward the day.  This reasoning corresponds to the example of a physician who allows a boil to mature until it can be lanced. Thus the Incarnation, too, occurred only when evil had reached its climax.  Gregory’s position has never been condemned.”
― Hans Urs von Balthasar, Dare We Hope That All Men Be Saved?: With a Short Discourse on Hell – 2nd Edition

The fact is this: even in documents that articulated a very narrow understanding of Extra ecclesiam the Church almost always also held that those who were inculpably ignorant of the Gospel could be saved. But they had a very shallow view of human subjectivity and thus greatly restricted what counted as inculpable ignorance. And their anathemas directed at Protestants, Jews, and apostate/heretical Catholics were all predicated on the view that these folks were culpably ignorant of the Gospel and thus damned. That was the main target. But the modern Church, armed with a much more sophisticated understanding of human psychology and the sociology of culture/religion, has greatly expanded its understanding of inculpable ignorance and has broadened its interpretation accordingly. And so I do think this is a legitimate development of doctrine and where the Church erred in the past was not in its fundamental theological ecclesiology but in its application of that theology to the categories of conscience in a shallow and almost naive way.
Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus: A Reader’s Excellent Email Prompts a Question: Has the Church Erred in the Past or in the Present? | Gaudium et Spes 22

Just one more thought from Dr. Chapp on this topic…

 Fr. Hans Urs von Balthasar  position, regardless of what one thinks of it, is not that we can hope for an empty Hell because our human freedom is so radically compromised that it is almost impossible to commit a mortal sin. His view is, given God’s revealed antecedent will that all should be saved (1 Timothy 2:4), that God can find a way to take even the most hardened sinner and to convert their freedom from within and to engender in them a true repentance in some mysterious way.

Therefore, Balthasar takes human freedom very seriously, affirms mortal sin is indeed possible, and views any hope for the salvation of all as rooted in a true inner conversion of our freedom to the transcendent good that is God. Again, this is a highly debatable proposition—and there are many good people on both sides of this issue—but it is important to understand Balthasar is in no way implying God will grant salvation to all in a kind of “blanket amnesty” owing to the fact we are all so “wounded” that our freedom simply cannot be freighted with such significance.

The population of hell and the limitations of human freedom – Catholic World Report

The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.— Brennan Manning

The Church says…

1058 The Church prays that no one should be lost: “Lord, let me never be parted from you.” If it is true that no one can save himself, it is also true that God “desires all men to be saved” (1 Tim 2:4), and that for him “all things are possible” (Mt 19:26).

Some people, unnerved by the fact that Magisterium does not join them in the attempt to claim knowledge on this matter, will often try to wring super-duper divine trump card backup for their school of opinion from some private revelation such as Fatima (this is typically done by partisans of the “few will be saved” school).  The idea here is not that Mary is another god, but rather that she is another pope–filling in holes in public revelation with “secret knowledge” that will set the Church straight and put the smackdown on that irksome other pole of tension that is complicating everything.  So enthusiasts for the view that few will be saved love to point to the famous Vision of Hell in which the Fatima visionaries were shown souls falling into hell like snowflakes.  Case closed!

Or not.  Since the other thing the children are commanded to do is pray “lead all souls to heaven, especially those most in need of thy mercy”.  So the private revelation does what authentic private revelations are supposed to do: point us back to the public revelation.  And the public revelation speaks of both the danger of damnation for each person and the hope of salvation for each person.  So we are left with that: the warning spurring us to act and the faith calling us to pray and act in hope for all.  That’s all we’ve got: hope.
–Mark Shea –A Reader has a Question about Hell| National Catholic Register

Was [Janis] Joplin a Catholic? Was she religious at all? I had no idea — and I couldn’t care less. I didn’t even glance at Wikipedia to find out. What did it matter? Grace is grace is grace, and Janis Joplin could benefit from a healthy dose like anybody else on the path to heaven.

Which is where we all are — we, meaning you and me, those of us down here, fussing and futzing in the Church militant, along with all those suffering souls in Purgatory rising, rising, ever rising, assisted by our prayers, sacrifices, and, yes, Masses. We have Masses said for our deceased grandmas and uncles and other loved ones because we don’t want to take anything for granted — because we can’t know where they are on the purgatorial path, and there’s nothing better we can do for them than to direct some supernatural oomph their way.

The same goes for Janis. All we know is that she’s dead, and that heaven is what she was destined for — what she was created for. I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt that she immediately recognized Love incarnate at the moment of her death; that she knelt, bowed her head, and uttered her definitive Fiat; that she’s heaven bound now, and could use a celestial lift.
Rick Becker – Why I Had a Mass Offered for Janis Joplin| National Catholic Register

We Don’t Know How Many Are Saved

The Late Cardinal Dulles elaborates on this topic.

The search for numbers in the demography of hell is futile. God in His wisdom has seen fit not to disclose any statistics All told, it is good that God has left us without exact information. If we knew that virtually everybody would be damned, we would be tempted to despair. If we knew that all, or nearly all, are saved, we might become presumptuous. If we knew that some fixed percent, say fifty, would be saved, we would be caught in an unholy rivalry. We would rejoice in every sign that others were among the lost, since our own chances of election would thereby be increased. Such a competitive spirit would hardly be compatible with the gospel.
We are forbidden to seek our own salvation in a selfish and egotistical way. We are keepers of our brothers and sisters. The more we work for their salvation, the more of God’s favor we can expect for ourselves. Those of us who believe and make use of the means that God has provided for the forgiveness of sins and the reform of life have no reason to fear. We can be sure that Christ, who died on the Cross for us, will not fail to give us the grace we need. We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, and that if we persevere in that love, nothing whatever can separate us from Christ (cf. Romans 8:28-39). That is all the assurance we can have, and it should be enough.
Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J. The Population of Hell (May 2003) First Things

Winning the Lost is Better Than Counting Them – Positive Infinity

The Church has a doctrine. The Church exists (among other things) to proclaim the Gospel, and is being led by the Spirit into all truth, and in a sinful world, that entails not only saying what is the case, but also what is NOT the case. The way this is often done in authoritative Church documents (conciliar or papal) is through anathemas. An anathema is an official declaration that someone who believes something erroneous is placed outside the visible boundaries of the Church, because he does not hold the faith of the Church.
In every branch of Christianity, up and down the centuries, teachers of impeccable orthodox credentials have believed in a massa damnata–the vast majority will be damned–and others have believed in either universal salvation, or quasi-universal salvation (most will be saved). The same New Testament that says “few are chosen” also proclaims that God’s mercy is bigger than we can imagine and His iron will to save all mankind. Put that in your pipe and smoke it. All our traditions wrestle with this tension in various ways.
Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry A Quick Note About What An Anathema Does Or Does Not Mean (May 28, 2015) Inebriate Me

What About This Question?

Someone asked Jesus this question.

And he was traveling through the cities and towns, teaching and making his way to Jerusalem. And someone said to him, “Lord, are they few who are saved?” But he said to them: Strive to enter through the narrow gate. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and not be able.
-Luke 13: 22- 24

 Dr. Peter Kreeft has an answer to this question.

Jesus says the way to hell is broad and many find it and that the way to heaven is narrow and few find it. And he means it: you don’t get to heaven simply by being born, by being nice, or by oozing into an eternal growth experience. But “few” here does not mean that less than half of mankind will be saved. For God speaks as our Father, not our statistician. Even one child lost is too many, and the rest saved are too few. The good shepherd who left his ninety-nine sheep safe at home to rescue his one lost sheep found even 99 percent salvation too “few”. – Peter Kreeft Hell (Feb 28 2018) Crossroads Initiative

Here are some further thoughts that might be helpful.

In the end the only person’s salvation I can do anything about is myself. I leave everyone else in the hands of God and pray the prayer of St. Faustina.

For the Sake of His Sorrowful Passion. Have Mercy on Us and on the Whole World.

 Thoughts that are answered charitably, intelligently, and Catholic.

Ascension Presents Fr. Mike Schmitz