Sir, – In an interview with Séan O Rourke on RTÉ radio on Friday morning (May 2nd), Archbishop Diarmuid Martin took pains to avoid answering a direct and straight question: “Do you believe in hell?” At the third time of asking, he conceded that he believed “in the possibility of hell”, and that’s as concrete as he would go on it. I was quite taken aback at such a lack of clarity on what is one of the basics of the Christian faith. There is no uncertainty in the Bible on the reality and existence of hell and in the New Testament Jesus Christ refers to it on more than a few occasions with a direct clarity and warning.
It seems that the archbishop is more concerned with saving the institution of the Catholic Church than with saving souls, for if he truly cared for the latter his words on such a crucial topic as eternity and hell would echo more closely those of Jesus Christ and the apostles, who warned of the reality of hell and the hope of the Gospel message which has at its centre the death of Jesus for the atonement of the sins of the world and through that death, eternal life in heaven for all who believe. Yours, etc,
STEPHEN LANE,
Cloghroe,
Blarney,
Co Cork