Is Pope Francis denying a physical Hell as did Pope John Paul II?
#1
Some may remember Pope John Paul II (in)famously denying the existence of a physical Hell in a July 28, 1999 General Audience. 
It appears that Pope Francis has echoed the same opinion - perhaps for the second time:


About that Pope Francis ‘interview’ where he denied the existence of Hell
Pope Francis' fourth article with famed atheist Eugenio Scalfari was again 'reconstructed ... from memory,' the Vatican tells LifeSiteNews.

[Image: shutterstock_185212376-810x500-810x500.jpg]

Tue Mar 24, 2015
ROME, March 24, 2015 (LifeSiteNews.com) — Eugenio Scalfari, the famed atheist, has published a fourth article on a new interview with Pope Francis.  The controversial anti-Catholic’s previous ‘interviews’ with Pope Francis were published also on the Vatican’s website and listed as official interviews with the pope.

However, an October 2013 interview created a firestorm after which the Vatican pulled the interview from their site and Scalfari admitted that his writings are reconstructions from memory, as he does not use a recorder or take notes.  That interview had Pope Francis saying that the “most serious” evils are “youth unemployment and the loneliness of the old.”

Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi said at the time: “One may consider the interview to be reliable in a general sense but not word for word. This is not an official text of the Holy Father.”

The most recent interview, published March 15, is no exception.  In it Scalfari has the pope denying hell.  The article says: “What happens to that lost soul? Will it be punished? And how? The response of Francis is distinct and clear: there is no punishment, but the annihilation of that soul.  All the others will participate in the beatitude of living in the presence of the Father. The souls that are annihilated will not take part in that banquet; with the death of the body their journey is finished.”

The text does not have quotation marks around any of the statements attributed to the Holy Father. Moreover, the Vatican has not published this latest interview on their website.

Fr. Thomas Rosica, English-language assistant to the Holy See Press Office, told LifeSiteNews, “All official, final texts of the Holy Father are found on the Vatican website,” and since they were never published by the Holy See Press Office they “should not be considered official texts.” They were, said Fr. Rosica, “private discussions that took place and were never recorded by the journalist.”

“Mr. Scalfari reconstructed the interviews from memory,” Father Rosica added.
"So let us be confident, let us not be unprepared, let us not be outflanked, let us be wise, vigilant, fighting against those who are trying to tear the faith out of our souls and morality out of our hearts, so that we may remain Catholics, remain united to the Blessed Virgin Mary, remain united to the Roman Catholic Church, remain faithful children of the Church."- Abp. Lefebvre
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