Some truths are hard to face. Who wants to hear about exterior darkness, and the weeping and gnashing of teeth? Hell, however, is a reality that we ought to hear about for the sake of our souls, and Jesus often speaks about it, as did the great saints and preachers like St. John Chrysostom.

    In a truly amazing reversal that has occurred since Vatican II, Catholics (and others) now believe in the doctrine of Universal Salvation. Everyone is saved; no one goes to hell. If you don’t believe this has happened, just go to the typical Novus Ordo funeral. There the deceased are canonized on the spot, and declared to be enjoying heavenly bliss in God’s presence. And heaven forbid that there should be any mention of hell or purgatory.

    I quote the words of Fr. Robert D. Smith, now deceased: "All heresy, from Gnosticism in the first century to Arianism in the fourth; from Islam in the seventh to Lutheranism in the sixteenth, boils down to the notion that at least some people are so loved by God that they do not have to repent of sins against the Commandments to be saved. Some people do not have to repent at all. And this notion is all too likely to lead to the logical conclusion that, after all, everyone who has ever lived must be saved. This is the final state of heresy… belief in universal salvation. Universalism. Today, this belief in universal salvation seems to be itself universal" ("A Heaven Which Makes No Sense," from The Other Side of Christ, Issue 25).

    Whom can we blame for this? We can blame in part the documents of Vatican II, as well as other documents issued by the Vatican. Take, for instance, the document for Mission Sunday, October 20, 2002, Mission is Proclamation of Forgiveness, in which John Paul II declared that we were all on our way to our "common Homeland," following different paths, it is true (the various religions), but destined to end up in the same place—our "common Homeland." That very ecumenical document pretended to speak of evangelization, but failed to mention the necessity of Baptism.

    Now hear this! John Paul II, who now openly uses the term universalism, has expressed the opinion that hell is only for the devil and his fallen angels, and that no human being goes there. In fact, he was teaching this heresy even before he was declared to be pope by a den of Masonic Cardinals and infiltrators at the conclave in 1978, after the suspicious and untimely death of John Paul I. As Karol Cardinal Wojtyla, he gave a retreat to the papal curia under Paul VI. His retreat conferences were afterwards published in a book called The Sign of Contradiction. A careful study of these conferences as well as of his encyclicals, such as Redemptor Hominis, brings to light his universalist convictions.

    Now we know! What did Fr. Smith say? "This is the final state of heresy… belief in universal salvation." Conclusion: Karol Wojtyla + Universalism ¹ Pope. (Karol Wojtyla, plus Universalism, does not equal "Pope"). According to the decree of Pope Paul IV: "... if at any time it will be found that some bishop … conducting himself as an archbishop or patriarch … or …cardinal … or even a Roman Pontiff, before his promotion or assumption as cardinal or as Roman Pontiff, had deviated from the Catholic Faith or fallen into some heresy, … that promotion or assumption concerning him, even if made in concord and from the unanimous assent of all the cardinals, is null, void and worthless; [regardless of] the reception of consecration, … the ensuing possession of the office and administration, … the enthronement or homage of the Roman Pontiff, or the obedience given to him by all …" (Pope Paul IV, Cum Ex Apostolatus Officio, 15 March, 1559).

    But many traditionalists are still unable to face the truth about "the emperor’s new suit of clothes." To them John Paul must be the pope, so they protect him by blaming all the abominations on his curial assistants like Cardinals Sodano and Ratzinger.

    As for the existence of hell, nothing is more clearly taught in the Gospels. St. John Chrysostom used to say that Jesus preached more often on hell than on any other subject. We have a clear reference to hell in today’s Gospel in which Jesus speaks of darkness outside, and weeping and gnashing of teeth (Mt.8:12). In His description of the Last Judgment in which the sheep are separated from the "goats," the Just Judge pronounces over those unrepentant sinners: "Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels" (Mt.25:41).

    Sr. Lucia of Fatima tells of the terrifying vision of hell which the Blessed Virgin showed her and her two cousins, Jacinta and Francisco, after which Our Lady declared: "You have just seen hell, where the souls of poor sinners go." They had seen the bodies of the damned being tossed helplessly in the flames. Rome has approved Fatima, and Jacinta and Francisco have been rushed through John Paul’s new "fast track" canonization process, perhaps to mollify those annoying devotees of Fatima.

    Ah, but the Vatican officials have covered their tracks. So that they will not be caught up by the contradiction between current church universalist teachings and Our Lady’s words at Fatima about hell, they are now saying that Sr. Lucia is a pious old nun with an overactive imagination, who has been influenced in her reporting of the Fatima events by her spiritual reading. (Read the book, The Devil’s Final Battle, ed. Fr. Paul Kramer.)

    What happens if the Church no longer preaches hell and the people no longer fear it? This, for one! Pleasure and convenience are now more important than accepting the responsibilities of parenthood. The now almost universal acceptance of contraception, as well as the horrors of abortion, have resulted in the catastrophic plunge of the birth rate in most countries of the West. Italy is only one example. A friend told me that shortly before the birth of one of her children she and her husband were in Rome, where all eyes seemed to be focused on her in her obvious condition. Perhaps it was guilt. Children are a rare sight in Rome. The Italians will pay the price when in their declining years there will be no one to take care of them but the Muslims. Much the same can be said about Germany, France and England, with Canada and the United States not far behind. God’s judgment is coming, and it will be severe.

    It is most important to preach about Heaven, but preaching about hell must not be neglected. Many of the saints, besides desiring eternal life in Heaven, found meditating on hell to be a most salutary experience. Most human beings, unless they are confronted with the possibility of going to hell, will do little or nothing to avoid it, especially if they think everybody is going to have a free ride to their "common Homeland," probably not the place they were expecting. There are millions now teetering on the brink of hell because the contemporary church no longer preaches it, or even believes in it. "Many souls go to hell," says Our Lady, "because there is no one to pray or to make sacrifices for them." Filled with pity, the young Fatima visionaries led heroic lives of prayer and sacrifice to save sinners from hell. How can we not follow their example?

    Our pleadings to our Mother Mary in these times of trial must be all the more earnest:

    And, of course, the Fatima prayer with the Rosary:

For past Sunday/Holy Day Sermons by Father Louis, see www.DailyCatholic.org/2002qui.htm Archives

FEBRUARY 2003 Time After Epiphany vol 14, no. 1 "Qui legit, intelligat" Father Louis Campbell's Sunday Sermons