Editing Harrowing of Hell (section)

===Catholicism===
[[File:HarrowingBermejo.jpg|thumb|left|''Christ leads the patriarchs from Hell to Paradise'', by Bartolomeo Bertejo, Spanish, c. 1480: [[Methuselah]], [[Solomon]] and the [[Queen of Sheba]], and [[Adam (Bible)|Adam]] and [[Eve]] lead the procession of the righteous behind Christ.]]

There is an ancient [[homily]] on the subject, of unknown authorship, usually entitled ''The Lord's Descent into Hell'' that is the second reading at the Office of Readings on [[Holy Saturday]] in the [[Roman Catholic Church]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=From an ancient homily for Holy Saturday: The Lord's descent into hell|url=https://www.vatican.va/spirit/documents/spirit_20010414_omelia-sabato-santo_en.html|access-date=July 28, 2020|publisher=Holy See|archive-date=August 8, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200808204348/http://www.vatican.va/spirit/documents/spirit_20010414_omelia-sabato-santo_en.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>[https://www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2025/04/19/identifying-an-ancient-homily-for-holy-saturday-on-the-harrowing-of-hell/ Identifying “an ancient homily for Holy Saturday”, on the Harrowing of Hell], by Roger Pearse, accessed 19 April 2025.</ref>

The ''[[Catechism of the Catholic Church]]'' states: "By the expression 'He descended into Hell', the Apostles' Creed confesses that Jesus did really die and through his death for us conquered death and the devil 'who has the power of death' ([[Hebrews 2]]:14). In his human soul united to his divine person, the dead Christ went down to the realm of the dead. He opened Heaven's gates for the just who had gone before him."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism/p122a5p1.htm |title=Catechism of the Catholic Church] |at=p. 636–37 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100320090722/https://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism/p122a5p1.htm |archive-date=March 20, 2010}}</ref>

As the Catechism says, the word "Hell"—from the Norse, ''Hel''; in Latin, {{Lang|la|infernus, infernum, inferni}}; in Greek, {{lang|grc|ᾍδης}} ([[Hell in Christianity|Hades]]); in Hebrew, {{Lang|he|שאול}} (Sheol)—is used in Scripture and the Apostles' Creed to refer to the abode of all the dead, whether righteous or evil, unless or until they are admitted to Heaven (CCC 633). This abode of the dead is the "Hell" into which the Creed says Christ descended. His death freed from exclusion from Heaven the just who had gone before him: "It is precisely these holy souls who awaited their Savior in [[Bosom of Abraham|Abraham's bosom]] whom Christ the Lord delivered when he descended into Hell", the Catechism states (CCC 633), echoing the words of the [[Roman Catechism]], 1, 6, 3. His death was of no avail to the damned.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

Conceptualization of the abode of the dead as a place, though possible and customary, is not obligatory (Church documents, such as catechisms, speak of a "state or place"). Some maintain that Christ did not go to the place of the damned, which is what is generally understood today by the word "Hell". For instance, [[Thomas Aquinas]] taught that Christ did not descend into the "Hell of the lost" in his essence, but only by the effect of his death, through which "he put them to shame for their unbelief and wickedness: but to them who were detained in [[Purgatory]] he gave hope of attaining to glory: while upon the holy Fathers detained in Hell solely on account of [[original sin]], he shed the light of glory everlasting."<ref>{{Cite web|title=Summa theologiae: Christ's descent into hell (Tertia Pars, Q. 52)|url=https://www.newadvent.org/summa/4052.htm|access-date=July 28, 2020|website=www.newadvent.org|archive-date=July 28, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728123004/https://www.newadvent.org/summa/4052.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

While some maintain that Christ merely descended into the "limbo of the fathers", others, notably theologian [[Hans Urs von Balthasar]] (inspired by the visions of [[Adrienne von Speyr]]), maintain that it was more than this and that the descent involved suffering by Jesus.<ref name="Reno">{{cite web |last1=Reno |first1=R. R. |title=Was Balthasar a Heretic? |url=https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2008/10/was-balthasar-a-heretic |website=[[First Things]] |access-date=May 24, 2020 |date=October 15, 2008 |archive-date=May 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240529135343/https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2008/10/was-balthasar-a-heretic |url-status=live }}</ref> Some maintain that this is a matter on which differences and theological speculation are permissible without transgressing the limits of orthodoxy.<ref name=Reno/> However, Balthasar's point here has been forcefully condemned by conservative Catholic outlets.<ref>[http://www.churchmilitant.tv/dispatches/emptyhell/ "Massa Damnata"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201007103810/http://www.churchmilitant.tv/dispatches/emptyhell/ |date=October 7, 2020 }}. ChurchMilitant.TV.</ref>{{unreliable source?|reason=authority not established|date=November 2022}}<!-- Dead video source not archived: <ref>Taylor Marshall. [http://taylormarshall.com/2013/03/did-christ-suffer-in-hell-when-he.html "Did Christ Suffer in Hell When He Descended into Hell?"].</ref> -->