Hell Is Most Definitely Not Empty
Table of Contents
Modernists Believe Hell Is Empty
Modernists often say that they hope that Hell is empty and that all men are saved.
This heretical universalist belief comes from the book Dare We Hope That All Men Be Saved? by Hans Urs von Balthasar.
Although I will say that it is right and just to pray for the salvation of every individual man, as we do in the Fatima prayer:
O My Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, lead all souls to Heaven, especially those in most need of Thy mercy.
Nevertheless, we must know with certainty that Hell is real, and that it is the final eternal destination of many souls.
And denying this dogma of the Church, even when it comes from compassion for others, ultimately denies the mission of the Church and the sacrifice Christ made at Calvary.
I will prove this view is heretical and not worthy of belief by showing what our Lord, the Bible, Saints and Popes say about the matter.
What Did Our Lord, Jesus Christ, Say Regarding Hell Being Empty?
Our Lord, Jesus Christ, had quite a bit to say about Hell.
Most importantly, He strongly implies that most souls will go to Hell and that few will be saved.
Jesus says:
Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!
Matthew 7:13-14
Christ continues by saying this:
Not every one that saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven: but he that doth the will of my Father who is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 7:21
Our Lord also says this:
For many are called, but few are chosen.
Matthew 22:14
And Christ also says this:
He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be condemned.
Mark 16:16
Likewise, the Bible says this:
And a certain man said to him: Lord, are they few that are saved? But he said to them: Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able.
Luke 13:23-24
And the Bible also says this:
Jesus answered, and said to him: Amen, amen I say to thee, unless a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith to him: How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb, and be born again? Jesus answered: Amen, amen I say to thee, unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
John 3:3-5
Moreover, Our Lord tells us this:
I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by me.
John 14:6
And Christ also tells St. John this:
But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, they shall have their portion in the pool burning with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.
Apocalypse (Revelation) 21:8
These passages seem rather straightforward.
Our Lord makes it explicitly clear that more people go to Hell than Heaven.
He also says that only those who accept Him as their Lord and Savior, are baptized, do God’s will, and don’t break God’s moral law (or at least repent) have any hope of going to Heaven, whatsoever!
By just looking at reality and using basic math we know that most people aren’t baptized Christians.
And even those that are baptized Christians tend to disobey God’s will and moral law.
Therefore, I just don’t see how anyone can come to the conclusion that most, let alone all, people go to Heaven.
Doing so would require severe mental gymnastics!
It rather seems to me that by saying most men go to Heaven, then you are implying that Our Lord is a liar.
And I shudder to think about the eternal fate of anyone who brazenly does such a thing!
What Do Saints Say About Hell Being Empty?
Here is an incomplete list of Saints rejecting the idea of Hell being empty.
Biblical Saints
Peter
And if the just man shall scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
1 Peter 4:18
Paul
Know you not that the unjust shall not possess the kingdom of God? Do not err: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, Nor the effeminate, nor liers with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor railers, nor extortioners, shall possess the kingdom of God.
1 Corinthians 6:9-10
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are fornication, uncleanness, immodesty, luxury, Idolatry, witchcrafts, enmities, contentions, emulations, wraths, quarrels, dissensions, sects, Envies, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like. Of the which I foretell you, as I have foretold to you, that they who do such things shall not obtain the kingdom of God.
Galatians 5:19-21
With fear and trembling work out your salvation.
Philippians 2:12
John the Baptist
He that believeth in the Son, hath life everlasting; but he that believeth not the Son, shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
John 3:36
Church Fathers And Doctors
Basil
Remember that it is not the multitude who are being saved, but the elect of God.
Letter 257
Augustine
For, as a matter of fact, not all, nor even a majority, are saved
The Handbook on Faith, Hope and Love, Chapter 97
Yet doubtless there are but few who are saved.
Sermon 61 on the New Testament
Thomas Aquinas
Those who are saved are in the minority.
ST I,Q.23,A.7,ad 3.
Alphonsus Liguori
The greater part of men choose to be damned rather than to love Almighty God
The Way of Salvation and Perfection, 311
The saints are few, but we must live with the few if we would be saved with the few.
The Holy Eucharist, 494
Other Saints Who Had Visions of Hell
Teresa of Avila
It was that vision that filled me with the very great distress which I feel at the sight of so many lost souls, especially of the Lutherans,–for they were once members of the Church by baptism,–and also gave me the most vehement desires for the salvation of souls; for certainly I believe that, to save even one from those overwhelming torments, I would most willingly endure many deaths. If here on earth we see one whom we specially love in great trouble or pain, our very nature seems to bid us compassionate him; and if those pains be great, we are troubled ourselves. What, then, must it be to see a soul in danger of pain, the most grievous of all pains, for ever? Who can endure it? It is a thought no heart can bear without great anguish. Here we know that pain ends with life at last, and that there are limits to it; yet the sight of it moves our compassion so greatly. That other pain has no ending; and I know not how we can be calm, when we see Satan carry so many souls daily away.
The life of St. Teresa of Jesus of the order of Our Lady of Carmel
John Bosco
“Bad companions, bad books, and bad habits,” my guide exclaimed, “are mainly responsible for so many eternally lost.”
The traps I had seen earlier were indeed dragging the boys to ruin. Seeing so many going to perdition, I cried out disconsolately, “If so many of our boys end up this way, we are working in vain. How can we prevent such tragedies?”
“This is their present state,” my guide replied, “and that is where they would go if they were to die now.”
“Then let me jot down their names so that I may warn them and put them back on the path to Heaven.”
“Do you really believe that some of them would reform if you were to warn them? Then and there your warning might impress them, but soon they will forget it, saying, ‘It was just a dream,’ and they will do worse than before. Others, realizing they have been unmasked, receive the sacraments, but this will be neither spontaneous nor meritorious; others will go to confession because of a momentary fear of Hell but will still be attached to sin.”
The Road to Hell
The Fatima Children
She opened Her hands once more, as She had done the two previous months. The rays [of light] appeared to penetrate the earth, and we saw, as it were, a vast sea of fire. Plunged in this fire, we saw the demons and the souls [of the damned]. The latter were like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, having human forms. They were floating about in that conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames which issued from within themselves, together with great clouds of smoke. Now they fell back on every side like sparks in huge fires, without weight or equilibrium, amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fright (it must have been this sight which caused me to cry out, as people say they heard me). The demons were distinguished [from the souls of the damned] by their terrifying and repellent likeness to frightful and unknown animals, black and transparent like burning coals. That vision only lasted for a moment, thanks to our good Heavenly Mother, Who at the first apparition had promised to take us to Heaven. Without that, I think that we would have died of terror and fear.
Memoirs, Sister Lucy
The Little Number of Those Who Are Saved By St. Leonard Of Port Maurice
Below are mere excerpts of the greatest sermon of all time on how most souls go to Hell.
Do yourself a favor and read the whole sermon, if you haven’t.
The subject I will be treating today is a very grave one; it has caused even the pillars of the Church to tremble, filled the greatest Saints with terror and populated the deserts with anchorites. The point of this instruction is to decide whether the number of Christians who are saved is greater or less than the number of Christians who are damned; it will, I hope, produce in you a salutary fear of the judgments of God…
First…let us listen to two learned cardinals, Cajetan and Bellarmine. They teach that the greater number of Christian adults are damned, and if I had the time to point out the reasons upon which they base themselves, you would be convinced of it yourselves. But I will limit myself here to quoting Suarez. After consulting all the theologians and making a diligent study of the matter, he wrote, “The most common sentiment which is held is that, among Christians, there are more damned souls than predestined souls.”…
Add the authority of the Greek and Latin Fathers to that of the theologians, and you will find that almost all of them say the same thing. This is the sentiment of Saint Theodore, Saint Basil, Saint Ephrem, and Saint John Chrysostom. What is more, according to Baronius it was a common opinion among the Greek Fathers that this truth was expressly revealed to Saint Simeon Stylites and that after this revelation, it was to secure his salvation that he decided to live standing on top of a pillar for forty years, exposed to the weather, a model of penance and holiness for everyone…
Now let us consult the Latin Fathers. You will hear Saint Gregory saying clearly, “Many attain to faith, but few to the heavenly kingdom.” Saint Anselm declares, “There are few who are saved.” Saint Augustine states even more clearly, “Therefore, few are saved in comparison to those who are damned.” The most terrifying, however, is Saint Jerome. At the end of his life, in the presence of his disciples, he spoke these dreadful words: “Out of one hundred thousand people whose lives have always been bad, you will find barely one who is worthy of indulgence.”…
Yet I am horror-struck when I hear Saint Jerome declaring that although the world is full of priests, barely one in a hundred is living in a manner in conformity with state; when I hear a servant of God attesting that he has learned by revelation that the number of priests who fall into Hell each day is so great that it seemed impossible to him that there be any left on Earth; when I hear Saint Chrysostom exclaiming with tears in his eyes, “I do not believe that many priests are saved; I believe the contrary, that the number of those who are damned is greater.”…
The Little Number of Those Who Are Saved by St. Leonard Of Port Maurice
What Does The Magisterium Say About Hell Being Empty?
Firstly, the Magisterium condemns universalism as heretical.
In the Second Council of Constantinople, the first anthem against Origen condemns universalism:
If anyone asserts the fabulous pre-existence of souls, and shall assert the monstrous restoration which follows from it: let him be anathema.
The Fifteen Anathemas Against Origen
“Monstrous restoration” refers to universalism, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia.
Secondly, the Magisterium makes it clear that outside of the Church there is no salvation.
This is Dogma. I will include only a few, of many, quotes to show this is clear Catholic teaching.
The Fourth Lateran Council says:
There is indeed one universal church of the faithful, outside of which nobody at all is saved
Fourth Lateran Council, Constitution 1
Also, the Council of Florence says:
It firmly believes, professes and preaches that all those who are outside the catholic church, not only pagans but also Jews or heretics and schismatics, cannot share in eternal life and will go into the everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels, unless they are joined to the catholic church before the end of their lives; that the unity of the ecclesiastical body is of such importance that only for those who abide in it do the church’s sacraments contribute to salvation and do fasts, almsgiving and other works of piety and practices of the Christian militia produce eternal rewards; and that nobody can be saved, no matter how much he has given away in alms and even if he has shed his blood in the name of Christ, unless he has persevered in the bosom and the unity of the catholic church.
Council of Florence, Session 11
Moreover, in The Syllabus Of Errors, Pope Bl. Pius IX condemns these 2 errors:
[Error] 16. Man may, in the observance of any religion whatever, find the way of eternal salvation, and arrive at eternal salvation.
[Error] 17. Good hope at least is to be entertained of the eternal salvation of all those who are not at all in the true Church of Christ.
The Syllabus Of Errors
Therefore, anyone cannot maintain that all souls go to Heaven, especially those of people obstinately dying outside the Church.
Maintaining that all non-Catholic souls have a reasonable chance of going to Heaven is close to, if not actual, heresy!
Hell Is Not Empty
Christ made it clear that Hell is not empty. Many Saints made it clear that Hell is not empty.
The Church itself made it clear that not all souls go to Heaven, especially those outside of the Church.
Therefore, I cannot see how it’s possible to believe that Hell is empty and still be Catholic.
It is clear that Hell is not empty, if you believe Christ, most Saints, and the Church.
(And to be fair to the few early Church Fathers, like St. Gregory of Nyssa, that did believe in universal reconciliation, they only did so before the Church condemned this error).
Now I will ask a series of questions to the Modernists who still dissent to this manifest truth:
If you believe Christ was wrong, and there is a good chance that many, if not all, people go to Heaven, then why do you call Him your all-knowing God?
Why would you even see Him as being all-good, assuming He knew everyone goes to Heaven, and He lied?
Why even give us Commandments to obey, threatening eternal Hell, if all people still go to Heaven anyways?
If people who don’t accept Him as their Savior get saved anyways, then what good was His Passion?
What is the point of the Church if all souls outside of the Church have a reasonable hope of salvation?
If you think Christ, His Saints, and His Church are all wrong, and everyone will just go to Heaven outside the Church anyways, then why not apostatize?
Let me clarify: I want you to stay.
But I want you to stay as someone who believes in what Christ and His Church teaches.
Unfortunately, if you don’t believe what Christ and His Church teaches, then you will not be saved.
And it is my sincere hope that as many people as possible believe in Jesus Christ and are saved, even though I know many won’t be.