Add Category
The Vatican has felt obliged to reaffirm that Pope Francis believes in a central tenet of Catholicism, that there is a hell.
That odd declaration came after the newspaper La Repubblica published a front-page article on Thursday by an atheist, left-wing, anticlerical giant of Italian journalism, who reported that during a recent meeting the pope had said hell did not exist.
Bad souls are "not punished," the journalist, Eugenio Scalfari, 93, reported the pope as saying. "A hell doesn't exist."
Nor, for Scalfari, does a tape recorder or notebook or the orthodoxy of quotations marks.
The pope in front of Rome's Colosseum.
Photo: GREGORIO BORGIAThe Vatican characterised the remarks as misquotations.
In the past, Scalfari, the founder of La Repubblica, a bible of the Italian left that he edited for decades, has admitted to sometimes putting words in the papal mouth.
The Way of the Cross took commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary, takes place in front of Rome's Colosseum.
Photo: APBut the infernal remarks proved too tempting for international tabloids, conservative websites antagonistic to the pope and many others to let go.
"Vatican literally falls apart after Pope Francis says 'Hell doesn't exist'," read a headline in Metro UK, a British newspaper.
Pope Francis removes his stole after presiding over the Via Crucis procession in front of Rome's Colosseum.
Photo: ALESSANDRA TARANTINOThe pope, in fact, has often talked about hell as a very real final destination for the wicked, and the Vatican made clear that the "literal words pronounced by the pope are not quoted" and that "no quotation of the article should be considered as a faithful transcription of the words of the Holy Father."
Scalfari agreed.
"They are perfectly right," said Scalfari in an interview on Friday night, as the pope prepared for a ceremonial leading of the stations of the cross on Good Friday. "These are not interviews, these are meetings, I don't take notes. It's a chat."
While Scalfari said he remembered the pope saying hell did not exist, he allowed "I can also make mistakes."
The editor of La Repubblica, Mario Calabresi, said the paper had not labeled Scalfari's piece as an interview. Sophisticated readers of Italian journalism understand how to read Scalfari, which is to say, with a grain of salt when it comes to papal quotations.
New York Times, with AAP
Morning & Afternoon Newsletter
Delivered Mon–Fri.