Is it possible that a good and merciful God can sign anyone to hell, a place of unending,

excruciating pain, no matter what evil that person may have done? To answer this question,

we do well to start with Christ's parable of the last judgment in Matthew 25, where the king will separate

the nations, placing some on his right and others on his left. To those on his right,

he will say, come, O blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation

of the world. Those on his left, however, he will consign to the eternal fire prepared for the devil

and his angels.

These destinies are not parallel.

The sheep on the king's right are invited into a place, indeed a kingdom prepared for

them.

This is the destiny that God has in mind for every human being,

as the Second Vatican Council teaches us.

For their part, the goats are consigned to the fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

A human being can go to hell, but it is not God's plan.

So we start with the parameters of the discussion. To understand the last things, we need

to understand the nature and reality of spiritual beings. So when Christ speaks of the devil

and his angels, he is not speaking metaphorically.

The scriptures and Christian tradition are abundantly clear.

Angels exist.

Angels are spiritual beings by which we mean that their existence is centered on truth and goodness.

The spiritual powers by which they live are intellect,

the power to know and understand truth, and will, the power to love the good as known and to

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