Who's in Hell?

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ajpirc

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If the Pope can infallibly determine whether someone is in heaven by canonizing someone, then can he infallibly determine if someone is in Hell? Or Purgatory?
 
ajpirc said:
If the Pope can infallibly determine whether someone is in heaven by canonizing someone, then can he infallibly determine if someone is in Hell? Or Purgatory?
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With canonizations, it is not that the pope has some sort of infallible Geiger counter that he uses, it is that the Holy Spirit grants us evidence of certain people’s sanctity so that they can be honored and serve as role models for the Church. It is theoretically possible that the Holy Spirit could choose to reveal, through the Magisterium of the Church, that someone was in Hell, but this has never happened in history and there seems no good reason to do so.
 
The Pope can’t just determine one is in Heaven or Hell. The Pope can, however, determine that certain miracles verify that someone is in Heaven.

There’s a substantial difference. Remember, the decision ultimately belongs to God, not the Pope. The Pope merely interprets the signs.

Obviously, no one in Hell would have miracles attached to them after they die, so there is no real way to do the same thing in reverse.
 
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