Is Judas in hell?

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AtourDOMAN said:
what is the official teaching of the Church on him…?
Many thanks…
Atour
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Hello AtourDOMAN, 🙂

Well, as others have noted; the Catholic Church has not given an official position in the matter. I have personally pondered much about Judas. I do not take the traditional position many laity have taken that he is in hell, but, neither do I know nor necessarily think that he is in heaven. I personally do not have a stand nor am I necessarily leaning one way or another right now.

Saint Augustine thought that Judas went straight to hell because he despaired. Mathew wrote that Judas repented and returned the 30 pieces of silver. Saint Augustine must have thought that even though Judas repented as Mathew writes, he despaired because he went and committed suicide, but I find this insufficient reason to think that Judas is in Hell. He may have repented at the last minute. We just do not know. The CCC states:

2282 If suicide is committed with the intention of setting an example, especially to the young, it also takes on the gravity of scandal. Voluntary co-operation in suicide is contrary to the moral law.
Grave psychological disturbances, anguish, or grave fear of hardship, suffering, or torture can diminish the responsibility of the one committing suicide.

so, it is hard to judge a soul - we are not suppose to anyway. I also consider that he was possesed by Satan, yet, this would not necessarily take away his responsibility because his materialism opened him to being affected by Satan.

I ran into a little problem with the fact that Jesus did not pray for Judas and that Judas was possesed. So, how guilty was he? I finally came to understand that it is not that Judas would be less responsible because Jesus did not pray for him as He did for Peter, because Jesus was respecting Judas choices and Peter was opened to the Lord nor because Jesus said go and do what you must do (paraphrase) instead of helping Judas again He did not out of respect for Judas free will. So, these things do not take responsibility away from Judas.

I have actually prayed for him. I don’t know the exact significance of the woe of Jesus. Maybe, I have thought, it could be because Judas would be hated for centuries and even beyond. If Judas has not been condemned to hell eternally, I bet he must feel bad for being hated so and for having played such a role even if finally he has repented. I consider that in the Bible it said that there will be no more tears in heaven. Well, who is crying in heaven? Maybe, Judas?

Well, we just don’t know, but, we can certainly learn a lot from his errors. Back in the spring of 2006, Pope Benedict XVI the a series of catechisms on the twelve apostles. The last one was on Judas Iscariot and Matthias. He gives a nice summary of the historical consideration on Judas and what we can learn from his actions and how and why we must strive to avoid them.

BENEDICT XVI

GENERAL AUDIENCE

Saint Peter’s Square
Wednesday, 18 October 2006

Judas Iscariot and Matthias

vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2006/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20061018_en.html

Peace,

Abba
 
Jesus said about Judas that “it would be better for that man if he were not born.”

Yet we know that, even if he were to suffer more than everyone else, if he were at least to still go to Heaven at the end of it all, it would still be better for him than if he weren’t born.

On the other hand, Hell is worse than if he weren’t born, so this must be what Jesus meant.
 
underacloud said:
Yes, we may *hope *that hell is empty. But no, we may not *believe *that everyone is saved. This belief, universalism, is rejected as a heresy. The Church clearly teaches that hell is real and eternal, and rejects the notion that hell is inconsistent with an all loving and merciful God.

So there is a difference. We may hope that no one goes to hell, but we must accept that it is possible for souls to go to hell.
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Yeah, I worded my post poorly. I guess I just hope that there is one last chance for redemption. I agree that hell is a very real possibility and I think humility should lead us to believe that we deserve it.
 
Strategos7771 said:
My thought is that Christ’s comment about it “being better if he had never been born” was just him expressing sympathy and compassion for the man. It very well could have been in the context of “his task was a burden so hard to bear, it would have been better if he had never been born.” or something like that.
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👍 Jesus would hardly make the mistake of equating sin with the sinner…

If Judas hadn’t shown remorse it would far more difficult to feel compassion for him but even then we couldn’t tell to what extent he may have been possessed. Saints have often had to contend with the powers of darkness. Judas was no saint but his Master was - and is - the Son of God. It is to be expected that His followers could be tempted - as Jesus was - and even become dominated by an evil spirit…
 
sdegutis said:
Jesus said about Judas that “it would be better for that man if he were not born.”

Yet we know that, even if he were to suffer more than everyone else, if he were at least to still go to Heaven at the end of it all, it would still be better for him than if he weren’t born.

On the other hand, Hell is worse than if he weren’t born, so this must be what Jesus meant.
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This interpretation seems to me to be the only one that makes sense, but like I said, there very well may be another one that completely escapes me. I don’t know and I’m glad I don’t know.
 
sdegutis said:
Jesus said about Judas that “it would be better for that man if he were not born.”

Yet we know that, even if he were to suffer more than everyone else, if he were at least to still go to Heaven at the end of it all, it would still be better for him than if he weren’t born.

On the other hand, Hell is worse than if he weren’t born, so this must be what Jesus meant.
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  1. Hell is not worse because a person has the opportunity to choose how to live - both in this world and the next.
  2. Hell is not a trap one falls into inadvertently. (It would be unjust if it were.)
  3. If Hell were sheer undiluted misery no one would choose it.
  4. The damned are getting what they want, i.e. independence.
  5. The damned are prepared to pay the price for having their own kingdom.
 
tonyrey said:
  1. Hell is not worse because a person has the opportunity to live and choose how to live both in this world and the next.
  2. Hell is not a trap one falls into inadvertently. (It would be unjust if it were.)
  3. If Hell were not sheer misery no one would choose Hell.
  4. Those who are in Hell are getting what they want, i.e. independence.
  5. Those who are in Hell are prepared to pay the price for having their own kingdom.
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Then why do we try and avoid Hell? [This is a sincere question, not snark.]
 
AtourDOMAN said:
what is the official teaching of the Church on him…?
Many thanks…
Atour
Click to expand...
While no dogmatic pronouncement has been made, I know this statement from Pope John Paul II indicating that the text in Matthew 26 is inconclusive:Even when Jesus says of Judas, the traitor, “It would be better for that man if he had never been born” (Mt 26:24), His words do not allude for certain to eternal damnation. (Bl. John Paul II, Crossing the Threshold of Hope, 186)
 
Acts 1: 15- 26, Talks about Judas in detail.

It would be better if that man where not born has everything to do with us as people. If we end up in Hell “it would be better if that man were not born”. Matthew 26: 24 That also included Judas.
 
MarcoPolo said:
While no dogmatic pronouncement has been made, I know this statement from Pope John Paul II indicating that the text in Matthew 26 is inconclusive:Even when Jesus says of Judas, the traitor, “It would be better for that man if he had never been born” (Mt 26:24), His words do not allude for certain to eternal damnation. (Bl. John Paul II, Crossing the Threshold of Hope, 186)
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There needs to be a very good reason for rejecting the considered view of a saintly Pope…
 
tonyrey said:
Not everyone does! Otherwise it would be vacant… 🙂
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True 😃 All right then, I’ll rephrase the question:

Why should we bother with all of this stuff about accepting God’s grace and making the effort to get into Heaven if we get what we want to in Hell anyway?

I think “The Great Divorce” gives an excellent example of what Hell might be like that seems kind of consistent with yours-with the exception that, unlike in the fictional book, no bus comes offering people in Hell aren’t offered the chance anymore to make it into Heaven since there’s no point-God already knows that they’d refuse the offer anyway.

Perhaps Purgatory is the same things as C.S. Lewis’s Hell as depicted in the Great Divorce, except that eventually everybody in Purgatory will come around and get on the bus!
 
AtourDOMAN said:
what is the official teaching of the Church on him…?
Many thanks…
Atour
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There isn’t an official Church teaching on the fate of his soul. Therefore, we can only speculate; we don’t actually know.
 
Marc_Anthony said:
True 😃 All right then, I’ll rephrase the question:

Why should we bother with all of this stuff about accepting God’s grace and making the effort to get into Heaven if we get what we want to in Hell anyway?
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We would get what we want but not what we need! We are bound to be frustrated if we worship and live for ourselves. We are liberated from ourselves only by love for God and others.
I think “The Great Divorce” gives an excellent example of what Hell might be like that seems kind of consistent with yours-with the exception that, unlike in the fictional book, no bus comes offering people in Hell aren’t offered the chance anymore to make it into Heaven since there’s no point-God already knows that they’d refuse the offer anyway.
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Perhaps Purgatory is the same things as C.S. Lewis’s Hell as depicted in the Great Divorce, except that eventually everybody in Purgatory will come around and get on the bus!
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They know that it’s not in their interest to choose “splendid isolation”. The fashionable “do your own thing” philosophy is disastrous when it comes to our eternal destiny! 🙂
 
From what I’ve learned the Church has no official list of who is in hell.
 
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