Hell doesn't exist, Pope says

Easter celebrations find the head of the Roman Catholic Church embroiled in yet another controversy and a pretty big one this time, as the Pope is quoted denying the existence of Hell, a fundamental part of the Christian faith.
The sinning souls who do not repent cannot be pardoned and they disappear.
“There is no Hell, there's just the disappearance of sinning souls”.

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Pope Francis is quoted as saying that during a meeting with a legendary Italian journalist, 93-year-old Eugenio Scalfari, founder of 'La Repubblica', one of the most important newspapers in Italy.
Scalfari published the content of this private conversation, forcing the Vatican to issue a half-hearted denial and go into full damage control mode. What is striking is that the Vatican did not issue an indignant response that the Pope did not and could not possibly deny the existence of Hell. All they could come up with is that the so-called interview is not a 'faithful transcription' of what the Pope said. That could be anything – even a coma missing from the transcription would make it not 'faithful'.

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Over the years, there have been several encounters between Scalfari and the Pope. Each time, the journalist writes about their talk, quoting the Pontiff as saying unpleasant things about pedophile priests or the corruption plaguing the Vatican. Each time, the Vatican issues some sort of denial.
Than they meet again. It seems obvious that the Pope knows that whatever he's going to say during the meeting will be printed. And he goes on and says something shocking, like there is no Hell.

The punishment, Francis says, consists of not being allowed in the presence of God, which is actually in line with the Church's teachings. The Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church says:

"The chief punishment of hell is eternal separation from God".

From a theological point of view, the Pope is correct. The problem is such words are not meant to be heard by the ordinary faithful, those taught since childhood that they will go to Hell if they disobey the teachings of the Church.
The eternal fire and horrible torments await the sinners – for 2000 years this has been the stick used by Catholic priests to instill fear. And than the Pope comes and says Oh, forget about that, there will be no punishment, you just don't get to be with God.
For the said sinner who already doesn't care much about God and does not take his commands seriously anyway, that's not much of a punishment. Even the faithful who have trouble with some of the Church teachings might be tempted to ignore some of the commands since they're not going to Hell.
The Church simply cannot tolerate losing its big stick of fire and brimstone, because it cannot keep the faithful in line on carrots alone.
Therefore, the faithful cannot hear the Pope saying there is no bloody Hell after all.
Not to mention that admitting Hell is not a place that leaves us with the troubling question of where do Satan and his legions of devils live?

I have no doubt the Pope said there is no Hell and meant it. He's not the first one among Church leaders to say that.
The 1908 Catechism also defines hell as a state of being deprived of the sight of God.
In 1999, Pope John Paul II said the Bible uses 'symbolic language' in its description of Hell, which is the state of being separated from the love of God.
However, the faithful need to be told they will go to Hell if they do not obey.

When I was a child, my Mom used to tell me the old man will come and take me in his sack if I misbehaved. And I believed her, all children knew about the old man with the sack. But then I grew up.

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