In the spectrum of theological opinion among Catholics, the far left would have us believe that perhaps Hell is empty; no one suffers there at all. Another idea, not quite so far to the left, is that some few souls go to Hell, but their only suffering is to be deprived of Heaven and the Beatific Vision of God. These types of claims about Hell are contrary to Catholic teaching.

1. In truth, some souls are sent to Hell. See my post Does the Church oblige us to believe that some souls are in Hell? Yes. Jesus plainly taught that many souls are sent by God to Hell.

2. The souls in Hell do not all suffer solely from the deprivation of Heaven. Jesus described the sufferings of Hell as including “fire”, “weeping and gnashing of teeth”, along with that deprivation of the light of Heaven that is termed “the outer darkness”.

[Matthew]
{13:42} And he shall cast them into the furnace of fire, where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

{22:11} Then the king entered to see the guests. And he saw a man there who was not clothed in a wedding garment.
{22:12} And he said to him, ‘Friend, how is it that you have entered here without having a wedding garment?’ But he was dumbstruck.
{22:13} Then the king said to the ministers: ‘Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

The teaching of our Lord is that the punishments of Hell are various, beyond the mere deprivation of Heaven.

3. The souls in Hell do not all suffer equally. Some suffer from the deprivation of Heaven only, others suffer the punishment of deprivation, as well as active torments. This teaching was infallibly taught by two Ecumenical Councils, and so it is required belief.

Council of Florence: “But the souls of those who depart this life in actual mortal sin, or in original sin alone, go down straightaway to hell to be punished, but with unequal pains.”

The Second Council of Lyons: “The souls of those who die in mortal sin or with original sin only, however, immediately descend to hell, yet to be punished with different punishments.”

Pope Innocent III: “The punishment of original sin is deprivation of the vision of God, but the punishment of actual sin is the torments of everlasting Hell….”

So the claim that all souls in Hell suffer one and the same punishment, only that of deprivation, is false and heretical.

4. Those in Hell who suffer the least are those who die in a state of “original sin alone”. But these souls are sent to Hell, and they are punished there. Both Ecumenical Councils infallibly taught that these souls are “punished”. So it would be absurd to claim (as some on the far right say) that they are perfectly naturally happy, while suffering from eternal punishment in Hell. We are required by faith to believe that they are punished in Hell.

For our Lord always described Hell as a place of eternal suffering. Tradition, Scripture, and the Magisterium have always taught that Hell is a place of eternal punishment. Happiness, even on a natural level, is incompatible with eternal punishment.

Who are these souls, who die in a state of original sin alone and are sent to be punished in Hell (specifically, in the limbo or fringe of Hell)? See my post: Dying in a State of Original Sin Only

5. Another error on the far right is the idea that the sufferings of Hell, from moment to moment, are exceedingly severe for all the souls there (other than in the limbo of Hell). The idea is that everyone in Hell suffers more than anyone on earth, even more than the worst tortures imposed by the worst sinners of this life.

To the contrary, the CCC teaches that the chief punishment of Hell is the deprivation of the Beatific Vision of God (and all that it entails, that is, all the joys of Heaven). Pope Innocent III taught that those who die in original sin alone are punished only with this chief punishment of deprivation, not with active torments. So those who are punished the least, who have only the deprivation of Heaven, are not suffering extreme torture continuously (or at all).

To be deprived of the presence of God forever is, in one sense, very severe, for the punishments of Hell are eternal. But the moment to moment suffering of this deprivation is not comparable to the tortures of this life. For many persons in this life lack the state of grace, and therefore lack even that foretaste of Heaven, yet they are not experiencing extreme continuous torture.

Moreover, this idea of extreme torture for everyone in Hell is contrary to the teaching of the Church that Hell is a place of just punishment from God. Do you really believe that God, who is Justice and Love and Mercy by His very Nature, would give every sinner in Hell extreme continuous torture, worse than severe torture in this life, regardless of how many and how severe their sins in this life would be? To the contrary, the just punishment of the damned in Hell is an example not merely of Justice, but also of the Mercy of God.

They are punished by the deprivation of Heaven. They are punished by the “worm of conscience”, that is, by their own understanding of their sins, given to them at the particular judgment. They are punished with the horrible company of the fallen angels and damned souls. And some are punished with additional torments. But it is in effect an accusation against the Justice of God to claim that all are punished with extreme severity.

God is Love. His just punishments in Purgatory and even in Hell are not comparable to the tortures imposed by the wicked of this life upon the innocent.

by
Ronald L. Conte Jr.
Roman Catholic theologian and
translator of the Catholic Public Domain Version of the Bible.