Does Hell really exist, and who goes there?
Yes. The Catholic Church affirms the real existence of hell and its eternity. Hell is the state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed.
God predestines no one to go to hell; to do so would contradict his nature as Love. Hell is the consequence of human freedom abused. A person damns themselves by freely choosing to remain in mortal sin and persisting in final impenitence until death, refusing God's merciful pardon.
The chief punishment of hell is eternal separation from God, in whom alone man can possess the life and happiness for which he was created. The Church's teaching on hell is not meant to inspire despair, but a sober call to conversion, responsibility, and urgent missionary concern for the salvation of souls.
Sources
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1033
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1035
- Matthew 25:41
Awaiting review by the chaplaincy. Written in our own words; the Church's own texts are the authority.