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The Hell There Is: An Exploration of an Often-Rejected Doctrine of the Church
“Of all the theological errors commonly held today, the most popular is surely the denial of the doctrine of hell.”
—Msgr. Charles Pope
Even self-described Christians question whether God would consign anyone to hell. Msgr. Pope explains this false “If it exists at all, it is largely empty, except perhaps for a few serial killers or genocidal maniacs like Hitler.” People who adopt this belief are ignoring Jesus’s teachings that instruct the exact opposite.
In The Hell There Is, Msgr. Pope defends the doctrine of hell against doubters and skeptics. The listener will learn how God has largely been refashioned and trivialized in much of modern thinking. The God of Scripture has been replaced by the “Jesus I know,” who would never impose demands on anyone. As in the past, those nowadays who invent their own god engage in idolatry. By denying the existence of hell, they choose a false god who is indifferent to their spiritual condition over the true God who makes demands on those He desires to save.
Msgr. Pope argues persuasively why hell plays a central role in God’s plan of salvation, based on a detailed examination of the scriptural evidence. A thorough explication of the teachings of Jesus on hell provides a convincing refutation of commonly heard claims that He never spoke about eternal punishment. Important questions about hell are answered completely based on sources from both Scripture and Tradition, including theologically sound insights from Dante’s Inferno. Through this edifying book, listeners will come to better understand, and renew belief in, the doctrine of hell.
—Msgr. Charles Pope
Even self-described Christians question whether God would consign anyone to hell. Msgr. Pope explains this false “If it exists at all, it is largely empty, except perhaps for a few serial killers or genocidal maniacs like Hitler.” People who adopt this belief are ignoring Jesus’s teachings that instruct the exact opposite.
In The Hell There Is, Msgr. Pope defends the doctrine of hell against doubters and skeptics. The listener will learn how God has largely been refashioned and trivialized in much of modern thinking. The God of Scripture has been replaced by the “Jesus I know,” who would never impose demands on anyone. As in the past, those nowadays who invent their own god engage in idolatry. By denying the existence of hell, they choose a false god who is indifferent to their spiritual condition over the true God who makes demands on those He desires to save.
Msgr. Pope argues persuasively why hell plays a central role in God’s plan of salvation, based on a detailed examination of the scriptural evidence. A thorough explication of the teachings of Jesus on hell provides a convincing refutation of commonly heard claims that He never spoke about eternal punishment. Important questions about hell are answered completely based on sources from both Scripture and Tradition, including theologically sound insights from Dante’s Inferno. Through this edifying book, listeners will come to better understand, and renew belief in, the doctrine of hell.
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Published March 11, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 28, 2025
Listened to this in one day. Msgr. Pope draws almost exclusively from Our LORD's own words from Sacred Scripture, and he makes a lock tight case. There is most definitely a Hell. Most people are going there. Not believing in Hell or believing in a 'nice' Jesus is not going to get us to Heaven, which is the only alternative. 🙏🙏🙏
NOTE: I was working on a project with my hands, so I didn't stop to annotate good quotes, but I plan to reread this so that I can. This book is full of them!
NOTE: I was working on a project with my hands, so I didn't stop to annotate good quotes, but I plan to reread this so that I can. This book is full of them!
January 20, 2026
3.85 🌟
This book was a very necessary and sobering reminder of the teaching of the Church and of Our Lord through the Bible of the existence of hell and of the urgent need that the faithfuls have to work on their salvation and to help their brothers and sisters. He reminds us that the eternal fire is not a distant reality only reserved for the worst people but a real possibility for those who, even not being completely wicked, are far too attached to their sins to have a real desire for Heaven.
What I loved the most was when Monsignor Pope explained how one, not being too good but not being too wicked either, can choose hell and be deprived of Heaven. Here, Monsignor plainly teaches that Heaven is not a "designer" heaven where every soul finds exactly what he or she "wants" on his ou her own terms. Heaven is on God's terms, and what we find there is what God has deemed to be good and holy, not what we want it to be. As a consequence, a soul disorderly attached to its sin, will not even desire Heaven, because it will not find his sin there and will prefere to plunge in hell where his sin will be.
We also find in this book many other interesting reflections and Monsignor always presents them in a way that is perfectly clear and understandable, even for the novice in theology. Monsignor Pope also almost exclusively uses the Bible as the basis for his reflections, and does not venture too much in other sources of the Faith (visions of Hell are only introduced in the second half of the book and, even then, he does not spend to much time on them).
What I liked a lot less was the amount of repetitions. I think the book could have been a lot shorter without them and some sentences and conclusions were repeated again and again which was a bit tiring. I also would have loved to have, maybe some more reflections on the Cathechism of the Catholic Church or even on the writings of the Church Fathers. It also would have been interesting to see how hell was presented and talked about in various periods of the History of the Church. Other than that I do completely agree with Monsignor that Hell and Salvation are subjects that have been willfully ignored in the last decades and that it is more than necessary to reintroduces them to the faithful and to the rest of the population !
This book was a very necessary and sobering reminder of the teaching of the Church and of Our Lord through the Bible of the existence of hell and of the urgent need that the faithfuls have to work on their salvation and to help their brothers and sisters. He reminds us that the eternal fire is not a distant reality only reserved for the worst people but a real possibility for those who, even not being completely wicked, are far too attached to their sins to have a real desire for Heaven.
What I loved the most was when Monsignor Pope explained how one, not being too good but not being too wicked either, can choose hell and be deprived of Heaven. Here, Monsignor plainly teaches that Heaven is not a "designer" heaven where every soul finds exactly what he or she "wants" on his ou her own terms. Heaven is on God's terms, and what we find there is what God has deemed to be good and holy, not what we want it to be. As a consequence, a soul disorderly attached to its sin, will not even desire Heaven, because it will not find his sin there and will prefere to plunge in hell where his sin will be.
We also find in this book many other interesting reflections and Monsignor always presents them in a way that is perfectly clear and understandable, even for the novice in theology. Monsignor Pope also almost exclusively uses the Bible as the basis for his reflections, and does not venture too much in other sources of the Faith (visions of Hell are only introduced in the second half of the book and, even then, he does not spend to much time on them).
What I liked a lot less was the amount of repetitions. I think the book could have been a lot shorter without them and some sentences and conclusions were repeated again and again which was a bit tiring. I also would have loved to have, maybe some more reflections on the Cathechism of the Catholic Church or even on the writings of the Church Fathers. It also would have been interesting to see how hell was presented and talked about in various periods of the History of the Church. Other than that I do completely agree with Monsignor that Hell and Salvation are subjects that have been willfully ignored in the last decades and that it is more than necessary to reintroduces them to the faithful and to the rest of the population !
April 8, 2025
A Message too important to miss
Msgnr Pope does an outstanding job to awaken a dark and dreary world to the reality of Hell. You can’t call yourself a Christian and not believe in Hell and that it is well populated. To do so denies Jesus and His teaching. Hell is the “participation trophy” of a sinful world that denies its sinfulness.
Msgnr Pope does an outstanding job to awaken a dark and dreary world to the reality of Hell. You can’t call yourself a Christian and not believe in Hell and that it is well populated. To do so denies Jesus and His teaching. Hell is the “participation trophy” of a sinful world that denies its sinfulness.
May 20, 2025
A great read! Hell I very real and we must remain vigilant, while trusting in the mercy of God!
December 30, 2025
Excellent explanation of he'll Nd why you don't wnt to go.there!
Msgr Pope writes in an way a modern person will understand. Its a good and heartfelt warning for all of us.
Msgr Pope writes in an way a modern person will understand. Its a good and heartfelt warning for all of us.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews