Vatican Refutes Claims Pope Francis Said "There is No Hell"

Pope Francis didn't say that "there is no hell" as reported by a renowned Italian journalist, the Vatican has clarified.

An article that was published on La Repubblica, an Italian newspaper on Thursday claimed that the Pontiff told Eugenio Scalfari, 93, a well-known  journalist, that "there is no hell".

However, the Vatican said "no quotations" in the article "should be considered as a faithful transcription" of the Pope's remarks.

It clarified that the article was based on a private meeting the Pope Francis had with Scalfari. Catholic Church's doctrine affirms the existence of hell and its eternity.

"The souls of sinners descend into hell, where they suffer eternal fire", the Catholic Catechism teaches.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the top most Catholic in England and Wales, said "there's nowhere in Catholic teaching that actually says any one person is in hell".

Speaking to BBC, Nichols said that Pope Francis was apparently exploring "the imagery of hell - fire and brimstone and all of that".

"That's never been part of Catholic teaching, it's been part of Catholic iconography, part of Christian iconography," he said.

In his article, Scalfari, an avowed atheist, said that he asked the Pope where "bad souls" go and where they are punished. 

"Souls are not punished," the Pope replied as quoted in the daily.

"Those who repent obtain God's forgiveness and go among the ranks of those who contemplate him, but those who do not repent and cannot be forgiven disappear. There is no hell - there is the disappearance of sinful souls," he added.

The Vatican clarified the meeting between the two was not an interview, but a private meeting and that Scalfari's article "is the fruit of his reconstruction".