PopeWatch: Open Thread

The usual Open Thread rules apply:  be concise, be charitable and, above all, be amusing.

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MarkM
MarkM
Tuesday, January 16, AD 2024 6:35am

Walk and discern with the Communists only after you walk and discern with those who reverence the Holy Mass of the Ages. TYVM.

David WS
David WS
Tuesday, January 16, AD 2024 7:29am

Great article over at Crisis today: “Send in the Clowns.”That would have been my comment; The author beat me to it.

The Bruised Optimist
The Bruised Optimist
Tuesday, January 16, AD 2024 7:57am

I heard that Francis said in an interview quite recently that, although not a teaching of the Church, he personally believed that Hell is empty.

I thought, “That explains a lot.”

CAM
CAM
Tuesday, January 16, AD 2024 8:53am

I thought PF said He hopes Hell is empty. This comes under the heading of THERE HE GOES AGAIN
– latest I’ve seen on same sex couple blessings is that those agaiinst it [like all of the African hierarchy] just don’t understand what a same sex blessing entails. Typical Pope Francis. Reminds of old Monty Python skit Confuse A Cat.
Time to retire, Bergoglio.

Stephen E Dalton
Stephen E Dalton
Tuesday, January 16, AD 2024 10:50am

Hell is empty? The last time I looked, there was a rich man there.

Mary De Voe
Mary De Voe
Tuesday, January 16, AD 2024 12:23pm

Pope Francis’ view of sin as being so inconsequential that it does not require the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ is escapism. Our Lady of Fatima said that souls are falling into hell like snow and that we ought to pray to prevent that. Pope Francis believes that he does not need Jesus Christ to keep him out of hell.

Philip Nachazel
Philip Nachazel
Tuesday, January 16, AD 2024 12:54pm

*He HOPES Hell is empty.”

Lucifer and his followers forgiven?
Where in the *#¥¥ did he get the idea?

Hoping hell is empty explains what is taking place in real time on earth. Not good.

I hope hell is filled with souls who now seek the ruin of souls.

Philip Nachazel
Philip Nachazel
Tuesday, January 16, AD 2024 2:18pm

This isn’t going to be very concise but I’ll post a link in a moment to help.

Hell related;

In 1864, in a sacred corner near Ibiza, the Carmelite and exorcist, Blessed Francisco Palau, received an exceptional celestial revelation, which has been spread very little, even though it is very important for understanding the current moment.

A voice told him, “I am the angel of the Apocalypse.”

And he announced a new cycle where Satan would be released.

The Archangel Michael revealed to him the magnitude of the power that the devil would have.

And the importance of turning to him for protection.

He revealed to him how the devil would carry out the revolution to extinguish the Commandments of God and create chaos.

He told him how he would infiltrate Christians and also how to detect him.

And it also gave us hope. He revealed that the angel told him that after the chaos, there will come a period of restoration and peace.

Philip Nachazel
Philip Nachazel
Tuesday, January 16, AD 2024 2:31pm

All the hoping that hell is empty is empty hope;

CCC
1034 Jesus often speaks of “Gehenna” of “the unquenchable fire” reserved for those who to the end of their lives refuse to believe and be converted, where both soul and body can be lost. Jesus solemnly proclaims that he “will send his angels, and they will gather . . . all evil doers, and throw them into the furnace of fire,” and that he will pronounce the condemnation: “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire!”

Guy, Texas
Guy, Texas
Tuesday, January 16, AD 2024 4:05pm

Can you imagine the frustration of those ruling the church, pulling the strings, making the bank deposits, paying the lawyers, and how they cringe whenever Jorge gets in front of a microphone? By comparison Biden’s puppetmasters have a day at the beach, a stroll thru the park, a piece of cake. Guy, (cold in) Texas

Philip Nachazel
Philip Nachazel
Tuesday, January 16, AD 2024 4:25pm

@ Cold Guy in Texas.

Biden and Himself have way too much in common, if you ask me.

Cold in Texas… oh yeah.
We had a scorcher of a day in Northern Michigan… high of 6°…. not factoring in the wind-chill. Colder than a well diggers doupa…
At one time Natural Gas was being tapped up here. A sizable range, but that was in the 70′ through the late 80’s. Not many rigs operating these days.

Don Beckett
Don Beckett
Tuesday, January 16, AD 2024 4:32pm

I understand that PF was asked if any souls were in Hell, and he replied, “No, they are annihilated” – so it appears that he thinks no-one is in Hell aside from Lucifer & his minions.
I believe that Our Lady, at Fatima, used the analogy of “souls are falling into Hell like autumn leaves from a tree.” Let us pray that we, and our loved ones, are not among those ‘autumn leaves’.

Pinky
Pinky
Tuesday, January 16, AD 2024 5:05pm

Theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar argued that Hell is real, a place of eternal punishment, and that we should all fear damnation, but that we may hope that no human receives that punishment.

Dave Rx
Dave Rx
Tuesday, January 16, AD 2024 5:46pm

So where do all the Marxists go?

Philip Nachazel
Philip Nachazel
Tuesday, January 16, AD 2024 6:34pm

Send Lawyer’s Gun’s and Money.

https://www.newsweek.com/archbishop-calls-arrest-pope-cardinal-over-book-1861151

You have to admit. The V has no fear of the “B.”

CAM
CAM
Tuesday, January 16, AD 2024 7:27pm
Mary De Voe
Mary De Voe
Wednesday, January 17, AD 2024 12:04am

“I understand that PF was asked if any souls were in Hell, and he replied, “No, they are annihilated” – so it appears that he thinks no-one is in Hell aside from Lucifer & his minions.
God does not contradict Himself. Did Jesus die for souls who do not exist?
 Genesis 12:3 says, “I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you.” Obadiah 12:3 says, “For the day of the Lord is near upon the heathen; as thou hast done (to Israel) it shall return upon your own head.”
 Sex-fiends addicted to the vice of lust and preying on innocent children are a curse and are cursed.

Greg Mockeridge
Greg Mockeridge
Wednesday, January 17, AD 2024 12:35am

The late Cardinal Avery Dulles deals with Balthasar’s thesis here.

https://www.firstthings.com/article/2003/05/the-population-of-hell

Lead kindly light
Lead kindly light
Wednesday, January 17, AD 2024 6:08am

I’m gonna follow the Thumper rule.

Pinky
Pinky
Wednesday, January 17, AD 2024 10:02am

I’m not persuaded by the Balthasar argument either, and I’m actually surprised that some Council never refuted it. I think it would be possible for a person to hope that no human ends up in Hell, but I’d worry about the impact if that thinking became widespread. The Dulles article discusses Judas, but I’d also be hard-pressed to show optimism for the Unrepentant Thief.

I guess ultimately it’s hard for me to figure out how to categorize hope. The Church guides us in matters of faith, which obviiously to the virtue of faith, and in matters of morals, which I’d say relate to the virtue of love. I don’t know if we can say that the Church has jurisdiction over matters of hope, though, except as despair or presumption are sins. Or am I thinking of this wrong?

guy mcclung
guy mcclung
Wednesday, January 17, AD 2024 7:25pm

Dear Pinky, BAsed solely on Holy Scripture, we don’t know the final end of the Unrepentant Thief, name in tradition “Gestas”. I’m going to remedy that in a novel I am writing.

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