Madam, - I write to make a few points regarding the fiery debate on hell started by His Holiness's recent remarks.
Firstly, I must confess my dismay at all the fuss. A cursory glance at the hysterical letters published on this subject reveals a startling trend in Irish thought. Of course, had the Pope said that SSIA money was devil's money, and that all inhabitants of the Emerald Isle would toast for all eternity, I could understand uproar. But all the Pope did was remind Catholics of an item of their faith. Be good and one shall know bliss, be naughty and get punished.
We are not talking about breaking news in the theology department. Look up article 1033 in the Catechism. Hell is right there. The truth is that the idea of hell simply isn't convenient for people nowadays. People who have Polish nannies, panini lunches and summer homes really don't need hell. The whole concept belongs to hocus-pocus Catholicism in Sister Assumpta'a religion class, circa 1950. Put it with limbo and purgatory on the doctrinal scrap-heap, they say. Be gone with hell, for it does not sit well with our bagels and vainglory.
Secondly, on the more logical level, I personally don't see what the problem with hell is. Leaving aside the sulphurous flames for a minute, doesn't it make damn good sense that if one excludes God from life, one isn't exactly booked for the celestial penthouse suite when all is said and done?
The theology of hell has become understandably discredited due to Miltonian imagery and centuries of scare-mongering. But this should not detract from the logic of a place where one is to be excluded from God. But this is an issue for believers, and if anyone is in doubt they should brush up on their Bible. Despite the efforts of Christianity's PR gurus to disguise the fact, Jesus was not all "light and bright and sparkling". Hell was there for Him in harsher terms than the Pope uses.
Finally, I think it rather dull that belief in hell has faded. Political correctness is a frightful scourge. Heaven will be next for the chop. Spend your SSIAs, people, we're not bringing it with us.
- Yours, etc,
SEÁN ALEXANDER SMITH, Rue des Saints Péres, Paris, France.