Preachers must talk about the Catholic Doctrine from the pulpit! Have we forgotten?
Editorial (06/02/2026, Gaudium Press) Did Jesus not say that the path to perdition is wide and that of salvation narrow? Did the Divine Master not categorically state that many people walk the path of perdition and few manage to find the path to salvation? (Mt 7:13-14). Indeed. Unfortunately, there are many souls in hell, very many indeed (billions?), serving punishments that never end; horrifying, indescribable torments. The Church does not expressly attest to this, although it insinuates it through the most sacred messianic doctrine it inculcates. Do men follow the wonderful and salvific dictates of Jesus?
The crowded condition of hell is proven by the testimony of the Saints, such as St. Frances of Rome, in her ‘Treatise on Hell’. To the seers of Fatima themselves, Mary Most Holy showed a facet of hell, assisting those children with a special grace so that they would not succumb to such dark terror.
So, will everyone meet in paradise, enjoying the Beatific Vision of God? Will the heinous Nazis and the millions of slaughtered Jews sit at the same blessed table? Is this possible? Where is justice?
And what sins lead inexorably to hell, condemning sinners to eternal punishment? The Second Vatican Council teaches: “[…] everything that attacks life itself, such as any kind of murder, genocide, abortion, euthanasia, and voluntary suicide; everything that violates the integrity of the human person, such as mutilation, physical or moral torture, and attempts at psychological domination; everything that offends human dignity, such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution, the trafficking of women and young people, and also degrading working conditions […]” (Gaudium et Spes, n. 27).
Those who live in large cities often find themselves victims of the mortal sins of theft, murder… Individuals who perpetrate such heinous acts, if they die hardened, will have no other destiny than the abyss. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches: ‘The souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend immediately after death into hell, where they suffer the pains of hell, eternal fire’ (n. 1035). Purgatory is reserved for those who have died in a state of grace, but with a certain sootiness arising from attachment to creatures.
Those who evade taxes also violate the seventh commandment of the Decalogue and are candidates for hell if they die without the ordinary absolution of the Sacrament of Penance, which forgives by mere attrition, and have not returned the stolen money to the treasury.
Preachers need to start talking about hell again from the pulpit. Have they forgotten this point of Christian doctrine? It is necessary to warn the faithful about this real possibility after death. We are forbidden to sin mortally because of God’s infinite mercy, believing that there will be no eternal punishment.
We already witness hell in our daily lives through the terrible distribution of income, hunger, and the atrocious crimes that victimize us. Let us begin to build Heaven hic et nunc, here and now. However, let us always meditate on the so-called last things, that is, the realities that will confront us in the future (we do not know when; it could be today!): Death, Judgement, Heaven and Hell.
O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, lead all souls into Heaven, especially those most in need of Thy mercy. May Mary Most Holy, the mother of God, always help us, for God has predestined us for Heaven, for the Beatific Vision!
By Edson Luiz Sampel
Professor at the Higher Institute of Canon Law in Londrina
The post Hell is full! appeared first on Gaudium Press.
Hell is full!
Preachers need to start talking about hell again from the pulpit. Have they forgotten this point of Christian doctrine? It is necessary to alert the faithful about this real possibility after death.
The post Hell is full! appeared first on Gaudium Press.
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