Description
This is the first in what is hoped will become a series of short books of re-published older works of Catholic teaching under the title, “The Classic Catholic Teaching Series”
The Catholic Church alone has stood for over two thousand years without any of her doctrines changing and this despite the fact that many within the Catholic Church have in the past, and are now, seeking to overturn, distort, or compromise many of those teachings.
This first volume deals with Catholic teaching on Hell. We chose this subject on account of recent developments both in Ireland and abroad.
In Ireland, in 2014, a prominent Irish Archbishop, when asked by a radio interviewer if he believed in Hell, was unable to clearly and simply state Catholic Church teaching on the matter. Instead he tried to wriggle out of the question by insisting that he believed in Heaven and eventually he said of Hell, “I believe that Hell could be possible…” In putting it this way, the archbishop in question failed to re-affirm a doctrine of the Catholic Church.
In March of 2018, the Italian journalist Eugenio Scalfari claimed that Pope Francis denied the existence of Hell in an interview that he gave to Scalfari. Now Pope Francis has spoken of the existence of Hell so that is not the point here. The point is that in response to Scalfari’s claim that there is no Hell, the Vatican did not come out and clearly state Catholic doctrinal teaching on the existence of Hell.
There are also those who say that we shouldn’t try to scare people with stories of eternal damnation. However this is to ignore the fact that Our Lady, at Fatima, showed three young children a vision of Hell.
Were the children terrified? Yes. But it spurred them on to do everything in their power to save souls from Hell and this is our purpose in re-publishing these works on Hell.
This book contains three essays, one of which includes a question and answer format with common objections and the answers to those objections. As these three essays clearly demonstrate, the denial of the existence of Hell is not a new phenomenon and so ‘The Lumen Fidei Institute’ is delighted to once again bring the Catholic Church’s clear teachings on the existence of Hell back into the public domain in an effort to win souls for Christ.
Please pray for this initiative that we may help to promote Catholic teaching in order to re-evangelise western culture and to win souls for Christ’s eternal Kingdom.
If you would like to learn more about ‘The Lumen Fidei Institute’, or if you would like to support us, then please use the contact details on the back cover to get in touch.
John Lacken
Secretary – The Lumen Fidei Institute
May 2018
