Heavens above

‘‘No hell below us . . . above us only sky’’ is a great piece by independent journalist Gwynne Dyer. Yes, it will irk the usual gaggle of letter writers who rise to the bait, to save God and religion from the errant pens of those of us, who although not making sport of their beliefs . . . , commit the ‘‘mortal sin’’ of disbelief in their doctrines. I think it was one of the popes Pius, some decades ago, who declared that the devil was simply a concept of evil, and not an actual entity. He made that statement as a public revelation and because it conflicted with previous Catholic doctrine, it thus threw doubt on that other edict . . . papal infallibility. Even the hoi polloi of the faithful could see that if you denied the devil, you denied hell as well . . . and if you denied hell, the you were as good as denying its celestial counter-balance, heaven. Then, heaven help us, if you deny heaven and hell, you are denying the whole celestial set-up, perhaps even God himself, and thus creation.

Scalfari, the newspaper man, and the present pope, Pope Francis, seem to have a symbiotic relationship, whereby the Pope can gently break the truth to the faithful, see how it is received, and then totally deny he ever said it, if its reception goes badly. Well good luck to his Holiness with that.

Dennis Pennefather

Te Awamutu