In 1024 it is stated “Heaven is the ultimate end and fulfilment of the deepest human longings, the state of supreme, definitive happiness”. If this were true, the souls of the martyrs under the altar in Heaven would not be longing for something else. According to their petition in Ap 6,10 (“How much longer, Holy and True Master, until you judge and avenge our blood on the inhabitants of the earth?”) they are longing for the final expression of God’s judgment on earth, which leads to the eschatological fulfilment of His plan – a fulfilment described in the Apocalypse as the ‘New Heaven and the New Earth’. If the present Heaven were indeed “the ultimate end and fulfilment of the deepest human longings”, the martyrs would not be longing for the final judgment or waiting for the present Heaven to be transformed into the ‘New Heaven and the New Earth’. Only the ‘New Heaven and New Earth’ can truly be described as “the ultimate end and fulfilment of the deepest human longings, the state of supreme, definitive happiness”. (1)

In 1035 it is stated “Immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell, where they suffer the punishment of hell, eternal fire”. There are good reasons, however, for not confusing the place of the dead after death (‘hell’ which is the usual translation for ‘Hades’) with the ‘eternal fire’ (i.e. ‘Gehenna’, or the ‘Lake of Fire’). In the Apocalypse, as in other parts of the NT, the ‘eternal fire’ is only mentioned in connection with the final judgment. (2) Before the final judgment, the souls of the blessed go to Heaven (e.g., Ap 14,13), and all the rest go to a region that is termed ‘Death and Hades’ to await the final judgment (Ap 20,13). Death and Hades appear to correspond to the two divisions of Sheol in the Jewish tradition, and to Purgatory and Hell in Christian theology. At the final judgment, ‘Death and Hades’ will give up their dead so that they may be judged, and then ‘Death and Hades’ themselves will be thrown into the ‘Lake of Fire’ (Ap 20,11-15). This passage clearly emphasizes the distinction between ‘Death and Hades’ and the ‘Lake of Fire’, thus confirming that ‘Death and Hades’ are solely temporary abodes for the dead, which operate only up until the final judgment.

In related passages (1051, cf. 1022) it is stated “Every man receives his eternal recompense in his immortal soul from the moment of his death in a particular judgment by Christ, the judge of the living and the dead”, but this is by no means supported by Scripture. In the scriptural tradition the eternal destiny of each soul is not determined until the general resurrection for judgment at the end of history. Each soul will then be judged according to his deeds, and only those whose names are not recorded in Christ the Lamb’s Book of Life will suffer eternal condemnation in the ‘Lake of Fire’ (Ap 20,11-15). A close examination of the text of the Apocalypse does not support the assumption that, after ascending to Heaven, Christ is continuously engaged in the process of judging souls at the moment of their death. This process is actually delayed until the final eschatological period – until Christ has opened the seals of the Scroll of Life (Ap ch. 8 et seq) and is able to remove the names of those who ‘follow the Beast’ (Ap 3,5; 13,8; 17,8).

From this we learn that the particular judgment that takes place after the death of each person simply determines where the soul must go to await the final judgment: to Heaven, Death or Hades. Nothing is said explicitly about the kinds of punishment suffered by those waiting in Death or Hades, but of those going to Heaven it is written: “Blessed are the dead, they that die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the Spirit, so that they may rest from their labours, for their deeds go with them” (Ap 14,13). Concerning those who do not go to Heaven, we can therefore infer the following: they do not rest from their labours, they do not take their deeds with them, or both. In Death and Hades, then, there is a relative absence of rest, and no sense of achievement or satisfaction from life’s experiences. In this restless, empty, unfulfilling environment the souls who did not ‘die in the Lord’ await, perhaps rather anxiously, the eternal verdict that will be given to them at the final judgment, and not before.

Explanation
By comparing the catechetical statements quoted above with relevant passages in Scripture a specific modification can be discerned. In all the issues examined above – the temporality of the present Heaven, the intensity of retribution in the immediate post-mortem state and the characteristics of the particular and final judgments – we find that the Catechism has conflated and fused the final expectation with the present situation. The present Heaven has absorbed all the characteristics of the ‘New Heaven and the New Earth’, the immediate temporary post-mortem state (Hades) has acquired features of the state of eternal punishment following the final judgment (i.e.Gehenna, the ‘Lake of Fire’), and the particular judgment after the death of each individual has assimilated all the features of the final judgment. The reason for this tendency to confuse the ‘not yet’ with the ‘now’ is indicated in 1036: the Church has always coloured the immediate present with the severity of the future and eternal judgment in order to promote repentance and awareness of personal responsibility. Out of important pastoral considerations, then, the Church has found it convenient to bring forward, into the present, an acute awareness of the joys and sorrows of the future and final judgment.

Implications
Despite the usefulness of this ecclesiastical anticipation of the ‘last things’, it must not deceive us about the true nature of the process that is prophesied in Scripture concerning events at the end of history. For as a result of this subtle ecclesiastical manipulation of the prophecies, there is indeed a tendency to misunderstand the nature of the eschatological transformation. For example, if one truly believes that the “present Heaven is the ultimate end and fulfilment of the deepest human longings, the state of supreme, definitive happiness”(1024), then one readily ignores the material aspect – the New Earth – in descriptions of the true fulfilment – the ‘New Heaven and a New Earth’. The ecclesiastical vision of the future fulfilment therefore tends to be so otherworldly and immaterial, that it fails to notice that the eschatological transformation and renewal takes place on this planet and involves this creation.
The merging of the temporary post-mortem state (Hades) with the state of eternal punishment following the final judgment (Gehenna, or ‘the Lake of Fire’) disregards the operation of divine mercy in delaying judgment until the end of the historical process (cf. Matt 13,24-30.36-43). By attributing eternal retributory punishment to the immediate post-mortem state, it therefore tends to over-emphasize the severity of divine judgment at the expense of divine mercy. (3)

Finally, the confusion between the particular and final judgments seriously distorts our understanding of eschatological events. The belief that a final judgment takes place at the death of each individual (1022, 1051) has the effect of voiding the final judgment of content. This crucial element of the eschatological transformation loses much of its importance if it simply endorses a judgment that was given at the death of each individual.

Negative Consequences
The ecclesiastical modifications examined above appear to be different aspects of a single desire to identify elements of the future eschatological transformation with the present state of the after-life. This tendentious desire clearly conspires to diminish the significance of the eschatological transformation as a whole. This in turn fosters a belief that the greater part of the final transformation has already been realized with the first coming of Christ, and that what is to come is just a continuation and intensification of the same, with the Church – as an institution – representing the material fulfilment of God’s eschatological promises.

In the institutional Church, the presumption of perfection is so closely linked with the tendency to minimize the final judgment and reduce the eschatological transformation, that it is difficult to know which is the cause and which is the effect. Without doubt both tendencies complement each other, generating a ‘pre-comprehension’ (Vorverstandnis) of eschatological events that seriously impedes a clear understanding of the relevant eschatological texts. This could explain why, in the Church, the run-up to the final judgment prophesied in the Apocalypse – the blowing of the seven trumpets, the mission of the two witnesses, the ‘exodus’ of the 144,000, the reign of the Beast and his defeat at the final battle (Ap chs. 8-19) – is generally misinterpreted as a description of the history of the Church in the Roman Period.

The combination of presumption with the tendency to minimize the final judgment and reduce the eschatological transformation is also characteristic of the mentality that is symbolically attributed by the text of the Apocalypse to the figure of Babylon (4) ,whose eternal destruction answers the petition of the martyrs in Ap 6,10 (cf. 19,2) and is celebrated by all the saints, martyrs, apostles and prophets in heaven (Ap 18,20). For the purposes of identifying and challenging these patterns of thought, it is useful to give them a name: ‘Babylonian theology’ is the term that comes to mind.