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Dear catholic.com visitors: This Catholic Answers website, with all its free resources, is the world’s largest source of explanations for Catholic beliefs and practices. We receive no funding from the institutional Church and rely entirely on your generosity to sustain this website with trustworthy, accessible content. If every visitor this month donated $1, catholic.com would be fully funded for an entire year. If you’ve never made a gift, now is the time. Your donation will be matched dollar for dollar this week only. Thanks and God bless.
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Q&A

There is a list of canonized saints, so why isn’t there a list of the damned?

Catholic Answers Staff

Question:

The Catholic Church has many times declared that individuals have entered into heaven and become canonized saints. Why isn’t there a list of those who we know are in hell? Wouldn’t Judas be at the top of the list?

Answer:

The Church simply doesn’t know who is in hell. Christ gave the Church no means or purpose for compiling a list of the damned. Christ wills that all men be saved. He will try to save us right up to our last living moment.

Judas is one of the least attractive characters in history, yet Christ loved Judas and wanted him saved. Judas hanged himself, becoming a suicide as well as a traitor. In those last moments of consciousness, with the rope around his neck, it is possible his thoughts were of remorse and reconciliation. If he repented his sins, even Judas could have been saved. Whether he did, we don’t know.

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