A hundred years ago today, on 13 July 1917, Our Lady is said to have revealed a vision of hell to three little Portuguese shepherds. According to the eldest, Lucia dos Santos’ later reminiscence, “The vision lasted but an instant. Otherwise, I think we would have died of fear and terror.”
Mary, it appears, doesn’t really go in for doctrinal soft-peddling, even when dealing with primary school-age children. And to be fair to her, she has a good track record raising kids.
Nevertheless, hell isn't as popular as it used to be. Surveys consistently show that while lots of people still believe in Heaven, rather fewer believe in “the other place”. And that trend is as true of Catholics as it is for everybody else.
