Religion: The Power of Hell

The time has come, the Pope said last week, for a return to an old sermon subject: hell fire & damnation.

The preaching of hell, said His Holiness, "is more than ever urgent today." The duty of the church, "before God and men, is to teach it ... as Christ revealed it . . . Desire for heaven is a more perfect motive than fear of eternal punishment, but from this it does not follow that it is the most effective motive to hold . . . [people] far from sin and convert them to God."

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