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No Automatic Ticket to Hell

Question:

Do people who commit suicide automatically go to hell? If so, why does the Church not teach that anyone is in hell?

Answer:

There is no sin that automatically sends one to hell. There are sins that are grave and would kill the life of grace in the soul if they were fully deliberate and knowing, but we can never be certain that another person has sinned in this way, even if he has done something which would be a mortal sin if deliberate. Suicide is such a sin, but so often it is accompanied by such psychological distress that it would be unlikely that it was fully deliberate. Even so, it is important to teach that suicide is gravely wrong, since this teaching surely prevents many suicides. Not wanting to be eternally lost is a good reason not to want to die or to take one’s own life!

The Church does teach that there are persons in hell. Sacred Scripture is clear about the fallen angels, and Our Lord speaks unconditionally about the reprobate in Matthew 25. What the Church never does is identify who is in hell. It only declares the heavenly existence of a few of its children by canonizing saints. Even so, these saints are only just a few of the innumerable souls who are in heaven.

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