hmm...I don't know if he means real as in real, real. If it is real then where is it?

More FUD recruiting dogma. He needs another gold cross; his collection isn't big enough.

Props to the Pope for speaking up.

Russell's Teapot says:

Remember - if you're not with us, you're against us. And on fire.

This pope is OLD really OLD!! (and I'm italian)

In 1999 Pope John Paul II declared that Heaven
was "neither an abstraction nor a physical place in the clouds, but
that fullness of communion with God which is the goal of human life."
Hell, by contrast, was "the ultimate consequence of sin itself ...
Rather than a place, hell indicates the state of those who freely and
definitively separate themselves from God, the source of all life and
joy."

I can live with that, no problem.

I would concur more with John Paul II's statement.
Personally I believe the only way you can fix a bad thing(sin) is by doing something positive that trumps your bad thing. Why should someone who causes hate or grief of others (such as a killer, rapist, etc) be able to repent and be given the same eternal goodness as someone who has been good and helped others all their lives. I don't buy the whole repent thing. Nor do I agree with the new pope's description of hell. I think Pope John Paul II was the closest in stating similar to my beliefs.

And Uranus is only a planet.

I agree with arifsali's comment. If God is everywhere, and Hell is a place, then God would be in Hell as well as Heaven. And that's just silly.

The "traditional" view of hell came mostly from "Dante's Inferno", and it was strictly an interpretation by Dante. The Church felt it had to do something to keep the faithful in line, and what better way to threaten them with such a horrible place ? The ultimate reward, of course, was Heaven, and it's equally contrived visions of eternal peace, beauty, etc..

We have enough Hell here on earth..

Why should someone who causes hate or grief of others (such as a killer, rapist, etc) be able to repent and be given the same eternal goodness as someone who has been good and helped others all their lives.

That's why it's a gift. No one is worthy. Everyone falls short of the glory of God. You don't attain salvation through good works, lest any man should boast.

What are the thoughts of His Popeness on other imaginary places? What does he think about Atlantis?

So where do clergy go after they hide and protect pedophiles?