No, he has not affirmed the dogma of faith that “there is no salvation outside the church”, and one target of his strong words on hell was for the Mafia, but it would certainly help if the pope refuted Scalfari’s misinformation concerning his own belief in hell. Qui tacit consentire.
National Catholic Register, John Clark: It was widely reported last week that Pope Francis, in an interview with Eugenio Scalfari of La Repubblica, said that, “Hell does not exist.”
The Vatican quickly responded, in effect, that this “quotation” should not “be considered as a faithful transcription of the Holy Father’s words.” In fact, the Vatican clarified that Mr. Scalfari had not even officially conducted an interview with Pope Francis, though the two had met and had a conversation at the pope’s residence. Nevertheless, the story took on a life of its own, and the internet was ablaze with comments. I even received emails and text messages from both Catholic and non-Catholic friends asking me if Pope Francis had actually said that, so I referred them to the Vatican’s official response. Article is here.
