This Easter, the Pope presided over Good Friday services amid fallen plaster and a controversy over hell. The controversy erupted when a report came out claiming the Pope had denied the existence of said place. The same day the report came out on Thursday the 29th March 2018, chunks of plaster fell off the ceiling at St. Peter’s Basilica.
The plaster landed near Michelangelo’s famed Pieta statue, which depicts the body of Jesus on the lap of his mother Mary after the Crucifixion.
The Vatican is scrambling to deny the Pope’s words – but the timing sure is interesting.
Plaster rained down near Michelangelo’s famed Pieta statue to the right of the main entrance at St Peter’s Basilica.
According to LifeSite News, Italian journalist Scalfari asked the pontiff, “Your Holiness, in our previous meeting you told me that our species will at some point disappear and God will always create other species from His creative seed. You have never spoken to me of souls who have died in sin and go to Hell to suffer for it forever. Instead, you have spoken to me of good souls who are admitted to the contemplation of God. But the bad souls? Where are they punished?”
Francis allegedly responded, “They are not punished, those who repent obtain God’s forgiveness and join the ranks of souls who contemplate Him, but those who do not repent and cannot therefore be forgiven disappear. Hell does not exist; the disappearance of sinful souls exists.”
Scalfari and Francis have engaged in multiple dialogues in the past. This is not the first time Scalfari’s interpretation of the pope’s words were disputed by the Vatican.
Source: Christian Post Plaster Falls From St. Peter’s Basilica After Claims of Pope Saying ‘Hell Doesn’t Exist’
What do you think? My own thoughts are that if the Pope, the head of 1.2 billion Catholics, did say it – then God would hit the roof. If hell did not exist, then there would have been no need for the Cross or Easter. And although I don’t recognise the Pope’s position as the “Vicar of Christ” – there would have been no need for him either.
Other links
Plaster falls in St Peter’s, no one hurt
Vatican scrambles after pope appears to deny existence of hell
Red Sky in the morning 
Pope Francis is not a Christian and there is a hell.
The Terror of Hell
The Death of Voltaire
Hi Tim,
The preamble to Scalfari’s question is just as bad when Scalfari built on an earlier statement by Pope Francis, “Your Holiness, in our previous meeting you told me that our species will at some point disappear and God will always create other species from His creative seed.” So Pope Francis thinks that man who is made in God’s image will disappear? The man called “the Vicar of Christ” obviously doesn’t believe in the Bible!
I hope you had a happy Easter. Are you still in northern California?
God bless, Jo
I just hitchhiked out of northern California yesterday. Right now I am in Oregon; looks like I am heading into Idaho.
I’ve prayed for God to bless you on your travels with some good rides, divine appointments and provision.
Call me Jorge is a blogspot about who is running this antipope
Thanks for that. I’m not a Catholic but it’s good to see watchmen who are. I tend to look more at things from a NZ perspective and how the UN is affecting us all. The pope going to the UN in September 2015 to institute Agenda 2030 means he’s the vicar for the New World Order, not Christ.