[ 0 → 4] TRATCAST EXPRESS [ 10 → 12] TRATCAST EXPRESS [ 12 → 14] It's Thursday, March 29th, 2018. [ 15 → 17] All hell is breaking loose today. [ 18 → 21] More or less literally, as the Italian paper La Repubblica [ 21 → 25] reports in today's edition that Francis told journalist Eugenio Scalfari [ 25 → 28] that hell does not exist. [ 28 → 31] According to the article published in La Repubblica, [ 32 → 37] Scalfari asked the Pope what happens to the souls of the reprobate when they die. [ 38 → 39] And Francis answered, [ 39 → 41] They are not punished. [ 41 → 44] Those who repent obtain the forgiveness of God [ 44 → 46] and enter the rank of souls who contemplate him. [ 47 → 51] But those who do not repent and cannot therefore be forgiven disappear. [ 52 → 53] There is no hell. [ 53 → 57] There is the disappearance of sinful souls. [ 57 → 58] Unquote. [ 58 → 61] Now that is as heretical as heretical gets. [ 62 → 64] And I'm not even going to bother proving it now. [ 64 → 70] You can look it up in any pre-Vatican II dogmatic theology manual in Denzinger and so on. [ 70 → 75] And you can also look up our blog post on the issue with today's date at [ 75 → 85] Now bloggers and journalists and Francis apologists are running around like chickens with their heads cut off over this. [ 86 → 87] And the Vatican press office, [ 88 → 91] has now issued a statement as follows. [ 91 → 92] Quote, [ 92 → 98] The Holy Father Francis recently received the founder of the newspaper La Repubblica [ 98 → 100] in a private meeting on the occasion of Easter, [ 101 → 103] without, however, giving him any interviews. [ 104 → 106] What is reported by the author in today's article [ 106 → 108] is the result of his reconstruction, [ 109 → 113] in which the textual words pronounced by the Pope are not quoted. [ 113 → 118] No quotation of the aforementioned article must therefore be considered as a, [ 118 → 121] of the words of the Holy Father. [ 122 → 122] Unquote. [ 123 → 123] Hmm. [ 124 → 126] Now isn't that an interesting denial? [ 127 → 129] Or is it even a denial? [ 129 → 132] It's quite a bit confusing. [ 132 → 133] What are they saying? [ 133 → 135] That Scalfari made it up? [ 135 → 138] Granted, he's almost 94 years old, [ 138 → 142] and he reportedly doesn't take notes during his interviews, [ 142 → 143] nor does he record them. [ 143 → 147] And he really simply recounts everything from memory. [ 147 → 148] And yet, [ 148 → 149] again and again, [ 149 → 154] Francis uses this man as his preferred journalist for interviews. [ 155 → 156] In other words, [ 156 → 158] Francis doesn't seem to have a problem [ 158 → 161] with how Scalfari reports their conversations. [ 162 → 163] The Vatican, [ 164 → 168] probably scared to death that Francis may very well have actually said this, [ 169 → 172] decides to hide behind the claim that Scalfari's repetition [ 172 → 175] of what Francis told him isn't trustworthy. [ 176 → 177] And yet, [ 177 → 178] Francis has never, [ 178 → 180] never said or indicated anything of the kind. [ 181 → 185] Francis doesn't seem to have a problem with Scalfari at all. [ 186 → 187] 94 years of age or not, [ 187 → 191] it's not very likely that Scalfari got this one wrong. [ 192 → 194] There is no hell. [ 194 → 196] There is the disappearance of sinful souls. [ 196 → 199] That's not very difficult to get right. [ 200 → 202] And if Francis really didn't say that, [ 202 → 203] well, [ 203 → 205] then there's only one thing for him to do. [ 205 → 208] Come out and speak to the press. [ 208 → 210] It's not like he's a stranger to that. [ 211 → 215] And proclaim that he did not say such a thing. [ 216 → 219] That Scalfari got it wrong or that he lied or whatever. [ 220 → 221] And that this is heresy. [ 221 → 221] And that, [ 222 → 222] of course, [ 222 → 229] no Christian is allowed to deny the existence of eternal punishment in hell. [ 229 → 232] Nothing less than that will do here. [ 233 → 234] Is that going to happen? [ 234 → 235] Of course not. [ 236 → 237] And honestly, [ 237 → 238] let's be serious. [ 238 → 243] It's not like it's totally inconceivable that Francis would say something like that. [ 244 → 246] He's a naturalist after all. [ 246 → 248] On February 1st of this year, [ 248 → 252] he reflected on death in his homily at the Casa Santa Marta. [ 252 → 255] And he didn't mention judgment, [ 255 → 258] heaven or hell at all. [ 259 → 261] How's that for a reflection on death? [ 262 → 263] Then today, [ 263 → 268] of all days in remarks made after the foot washing ceremony at a prison in Rome, [ 268 → 269] and yes, [ 269 → 271] he was able to kneel for that. [ 272 → 272] Can you imagine? [ 273 → 276] In remarks made after that ceremony, [ 276 → 282] Francis again denounced capital punishment and also life imprisonment saying, [ 282 → 282] quote, [ 283 → 287] there is no just punishment that doesn't leave room for hope. [ 288 → 292] A punishment that's not open to hope is not Christian. [ 292 → 293] It's not human. [ 293 → 294] Unquote. [ 295 → 298] And there you see that he's a naturalist. [ 298 → 299] Because to him, [ 299 → 302] hope means not the hope of eternal life [ 302 → 306] and the hope of God providing his grace to attain it, [ 307 → 310] which is obviously a supernatural reality, [ 310 → 313] but hope for life in this world, [ 313 → 315] in this natural world. [ 316 → 321] So this fits perfectly with his idea of there being no hell, [ 321 → 323] but only the annihilation of souls. [ 323 → 328] That souls simply stop existing after they are, [ 328 → 328] are condemned. [ 329 → 329] And by the way, [ 330 → 334] who among Novos Ordos actually does believe in hell anyway, [ 334 → 337] and believes that souls actually go there. [ 338 → 343] But then what about those statements in the past in which Francis has mentioned [ 343 → 344] hell? [ 344 → 346] There aren't many by Francis, [ 346 → 347] but there are a few. [ 347 → 348] For example, [ 348 → 349] in 2014, [ 350 → 353] he said that unless the members of the mafia convert, [ 353 → 354] they will go to hell, [ 355 → 356] not convert to Catholicism, [ 356 → 357] of course, [ 357 → 358] but just to, [ 358 → 359] no longer being in the mafia. [ 360 → 361] That's a different issue though. [ 362 → 362] Well, [ 363 → 364] what about that? [ 365 → 366] Actually, [ 366 → 367] it's very easily reconciled. [ 367 → 371] Francis believes that people do go to hell and once they're there, [ 371 → 372] they are annihilated. [ 374 → 376] Maybe they have to wait there to the end of the world, [ 376 → 377] but that's it. [ 378 → 379] And if I'm not mistaken, [ 379 → 384] that is the belief also of the seventh day at Venice and the Jehovah's witnesses. [ 384 → 385] Hell exists. [ 385 → 387] It's just not everlasting. [ 388 → 391] Those who go there before long will cease to exist. [ 392 → 396] And that's how we can understand Francis' reported words that there is no hell, [ 397 → 399] meaning there is no eternal hell. [ 399 → 402] There is no eternal punishment in hell. [ 402 → 405] There is no hell the way the Catholic Church teaches it. [ 406 → 408] How's that for a hermeneutic of continuity? [ 410 → 411] By the way, [ 411 → 417] this whole thing about Scalfory not using a recording device and not taking notes during his interviews, [ 418 → 420] I think that's a clever ruse. [ 421 → 423] I'm not saying it's a lie. [ 423 → 423] I mean, [ 423 → 425] Scalfory himself said it. [ 426 → 427] No, [ 427 → 434] it could just be that Francis is simply happily taking advantage of that fact so that he can fall back on it [ 434 → 439] in case he needs to have some plausible deniability for his heresies and other errors. [ 440 → 440] See, [ 440 → 440] in this way, [ 440 → 448] he can cause all the damage he wants and yet always leaves open a little back door for those who want, [ 448 → 448] you know, [ 448 → 450] to defend him from the charge of heresy. [ 450 → 454] That would explain why he keeps going back to Scalfory to give interviews. [ 455 → 457] If there were a genuine problem here, [ 458 → 460] this could be fixed very easily. [ 460 → 463] You either stop giving interviews to Scalfory altogether, [ 463 → 470] or you tell him that unless he starts recording the conversations and transcribing the words accurately, [ 470 → 472] he's not getting any more interviews. [ 473 → 477] That's how a reasonable person would approach this. [ 477 → 477] But, [ 478 → 478] of course, [ 478 → 479] that's not what's happening, [ 480 → 480] is it? [ 481 → 482] And there's a reason for that. [ 483 → 484] You know, [ 484 → 490] I really wasn't going to give you an express podcast this week because I'm actually in the middle of recording the new full-length [ 490 → 492] Trapcast that you've been waiting for, [ 493 → 494] episode number 21, [ 494 → 498] but I just had to interrupt that for this breaking news. [ 498 → 499] It's a crazy, [ 499 → 499] crazy day today, [ 500 → 501] and it's Holy Thursday. [ 501 → 502] You know, [ 502 → 506] we really should not be thinking about Bergoglio, [ 506 → 507] but he always manages, [ 507 → 508] somehow, [ 508 → 510] to get the focus on himself. [ 512 → 513] Trapcast 21, [ 513 → 513] by the way, [ 513 → 515] was supposed to come out this week, [ 515 → 519] and I'm still planning on releasing it no later than Saturday. [ 520 → 523] But just in case it is delayed by a day or two, [ 524 → 526] you can thank Frank. [ 527 → 529] Trapcast Express is a production of Novus Ordo Watch. [ 530 → 531] Check us out at Trapcast.org, [ 531 → 533] and if you like what we're doing, [ 533 → 537] please consider making a tax-deductible contribution at NovusOrdoWatch.com, [ 537 → 538] or go to NovusOrdoWatch.org slash donate.