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Dear catholic.com visitors: This website from Catholic Answers, with all its many resources, is the world's largest source of explanations for Catholic beliefs and practices. A fully independent, lay-run, 501(c)(3) ministry that receives no funding from the institutional Church, we rely entirely on the generosity of everyday people like you to keep this website going with trustworthy , fresh, and relevant content. If everyone visiting this month gave just $1, catholic.com would be fully funded for an entire year. Do you find catholic.com helpful? Please make a gift today. SPECIAL PROMOTION FOR NEW MONTHLY DONATIONS! Thank you and God bless.

Is Hell a Just Punishment?

Question:

Is hell a just punishment? I hear this question many times from skeptics, and that "No human being deserves such a punishment." How would I combat this claim?

Answer:

The Church reminds us that hell is the “definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed” (CCC 1033, emphasis added; see 1033-37).

For further perspective, see this previous response in which I explain that the fallen angels basically said, “To hell with heaven.”

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