THIS is News? Preaching Hellfire & Damnation Edition

Let's see now, when Jesus was on Earth He talked about Hell (using the term Gehena). The Bible talks about the last judgement & Hell. The Church has taught tha Hell exists for 2000 years. When the Catechism came out in the 1990s it had a section on what the Church teaches on Hell. Pope J0hn Paul the Great spoke on the reality of Hell. So, why this sudden uproar in the secular media about a mention of Hell in a homily given by Papa Benedetto on 25 March 2007?

Papa Benedetto, as Bishop of Rome was making a Pastoral visit to the Parish of "Santa Felicita e Figli martiri", Rome. As a part of the homily (Vatican website currently has Italian only) he said: "Jesus does not start a theological debate about the law of Moses; he is not interested in winning an academic dispute on an interpretation of the Mosaic laws. His objective is to save a soul and reveal that salvation can be found only in the love of God."

"Jesus came to tell us that he wants us all in heaven and that hell, of which so little is said in our time, exists and is eternal for those who close their hearts to his love. (E’ venuto Gesù per dirci che ci vuole tutti in Paradiso e che l’inferno, del quale poco si parla in questo nostro tempo, esiste ed è eterno per quanti chiudono il cuore al suo amore.)"

"Therefore even in this episode, we understand that our true enemy is our attachment to sin, which can lead us to failing our existence." (Zenit article)

Sounds like He is continuing with his ongoing theme of God's love. So, again, why the uproar?

I can think of a good reason why. There are those who are still trying to paint the Pope as this horrible, out of touch man who is holding back the Catholic Church from shedding its outdated teachings & coming into the 21st Century. How better to do it than by focusing in on his mentioning Hell in a homily & totally taking it out of context.

As Carl Olson, in his Ingantius Insight Scoop post The Pope believes in what?! says about how a London Times article views the Pope: "But, not surprisingly, this is treated as yet more evidence of how out of touch and fearful Benedict is. " He is right. The Times article takes a very condescending attitude: "The Pope is evidently rattled that people today are not as fearful as they ought to be of ending up in Hell, prompting his reminder to them that if they fail to “admit blame and promise to sin no more” they risk “eternal damnation”.

One problem is that this just doesn’t seem as scary as it once did. Compared with spending a week locked in the Big Brother house with Jade Goody, “eternal damnation” sounds almost mild." Terrible, isn't it, that the Pope actually takes his role as Head Shepherd of the Church seriously enough to be concerned about the souls of those in his care? Terrible that he loves them so much that he calls them to repentance rather than risk eternal damnation? Oh, NO! The Pope actually believes in something so out of date. What a joke! Only someone out of touch with the world, with reality could even say that anyone risk eternal damnation in this day & age. That is exactly what the Times is saying.

The Scotsman isn't any better. Here is how it describes the Pope in an article about the homily: "A furious Pope Benedict unleashed a bitter attack during a sermon while on a visit to a parish church.". . . . "Pope Benedict unleashed his fury during a visit to the tiny parish church of St Felicity and the Martyr Children at Fidene on the outskirts of Rome, in his capacity as bishop of the Italian capital." As Jeff Miller (The Curt Jester) said: "They forgot to say that "smoke was coming out of his ears" as he said this and that he was shaking his fist for emphasis."

If caring enough about those souls in his care to call them to repentance is seen by the media as being bitter then this world has really turned it's back on God. The Pope isn't out of touch with reality, the people at these papers are. The Pope is talking about what is real, the consequences of our willful sinning & turning our backs on God. God doesn't want a single soul to go to hell. As Papa Benedetto said in the homily: "If it is true that God is justice, then we should not forget that he is above all love; if he hates sin it is because he has an infinite love for all human beings." & as he pointed out, it is this love that motivated Jesus to tell the woman caught in adultery to sin no more after He extended His forgiveness to her. "Only God's forgiveness and his love, received with an open and sincere heart, give us the strength to resist evil and to sin no more, to let us be touched by God's love which becomes our strength." Funny, but none of this sounds bitter to me. Just the opposite.

Then there is 1 more fact to consider. The New York Post has an article that seems to be trying to make it sound like the Pope's statements weren't actually ment to say that Hell is real. Rather they were hyperbole to get across the fact that Hell is a symbol of the eternal seperation caused by sin & rejection of God. In fact the article refers to Vatican officials as its source for that claim. They are quoted as saying: "He had wanted to reinforce the new Catholic catechism, which holds that Hell is a "state of eternal separation from God," to be understood "symbolically rather than physically." "

OK, sounds to me like the picture is this, an out of touch old man, angry & bitter, is telling everyone they are going to Hell, but only in a symbolic way. They are painting a picture of someone who is not worth listenning to or following. After all, we all know the truth, there is no such thing as sin. & there is no suc thing as Hell. How can there be where everything is RELATIVE.

There it is. Remember what Cardinal Ratzinger had to say 2 years ago about the dangers of relativism?

It is simple. We have a Pope who was chosen 2 years ago to do exactly what he is doing, calling sin sin. Calling people to repent, stop sinning & receive the forgiveness God desires to give them. He is doing that, the world hates it. Just as it hated Jesus, it hates anyone who proclaims His message. (Remember, Jesus said this would be.) No wonder they are attacking Papa Benedetto. He is forcing them to face the truth. & they don't want to.

So, they deride him, they make fun of him. The sad part, someday the person who said that eternal damnation "just doesn’t seem as scary as it once did. Compared with spending a week locked in the Big Brother house with Jade Goody, “eternal damnation” sounds almost mild," may find out how scary it really is.