The Dangerous Hope for an Empty Hell

Of course, the pope’s hope that Hell is empty isn’t as harmless as my hope for a World Championship for my favorite baseball team. Our hopes very much shape our actions and our beliefs: my love for the Reds leads me to attend their games and emotionally invest myself in their success (and, too often, failure). Likewise, a hope that Hell is empty has a huge impact on how we live as Catholics. This, in my mind, is the more important question, rather than more endless debates on the orthodoxy of the pope’s off-the-cuff statement.