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Question

Good morning Father Angelo,

first of all, thank you for the work you do (I am addressing you informally because we are brothers in Christ) on a daily basis, secondly I want to explain my consideration to you:

Man is made in the image and likeness of God and therefore in every man, even the most “evil”, there is a good part and often those who we consider evil are simply misunderstood.

Having made this consideration, every day I pray for all the souls who are not only in Heaven and Purgatory but also in Hell, above all asking for the intercession of Saint Anthony of Padua, the Saint of miracles.

What do you think about it? Can you kindly tell me if there are and have been other brothers who have prayed for the souls of Hell?

Thanks for your attention and have a nice day

Praised be Jesus Christ

Andrea

Priest’s answer

Dear Andrea,
1. It’s not long since we heard the parable of the rich man who feasted lavishly and the poor Lazarus in the Sunday Gospel.
The former ended up in hell.
And seeing Lazarus next to Abraham, he asked the latter to send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in the water to touch his tongue.
Abraham replied that it was not possible because between the two situations, heaven and hell, there is a great abyss.
The great abyss means that the situation in hell, like that in paradise, is irreversible.

2. If it were useful to pray for those in hell it would be necessary to conclude that their punishment could decrease to the point of eliminating eternity.

But this is not possible, because outside the present life one can no longer deserve.

And it cannot be deserved because there is no time to deserve. That’s because they are out of time. They are in eternity, which is an instant that never passes.

3. Scrive San Tommaso d’Aquino: “Origen erred in maintaining that the demons will at length, through God’s mercy, be delivered from their punishment.” But this error has been condemned by the Church for two reasons. First because it is clearly contrary to the authority of Holy Writ (Apoc. 20:9,10): “The devil who seduced them was cast into the pool of fire and brimstone, where both the beasts and the false shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever,” which is the Scriptural expression for eternity. Secondly, because this opinion exaggerated God’s mercy in one direction and depreciated it in another. For it would seem equally reasonable for the good angels to remain in eternal happiness, and for the wicked angels to be eternally punished. Wherefore just as he maintained that the demons and the souls of the damned are to be delivered at length from their sufferings, so he maintained that the angels and the souls of the blessed will at length pass from their happy state to the unhappiness of this life.” (Supplemento alla Somma teologica, 99,2). 
Therefore as “it is inadmissible that the life of the just will ever have an end. […] it is inadmissible that the punishment of the damned will ever come to an end”. (Ib., 99, 3, sed contra).

4.Here’s what St. Thomas still says about the uselessness of prayer for the damned: “As Augustine and Gregory say, the saints in this life pray for their enemies, that they may be converted to God, while it is yet possible for them to be converted. For if we knew that they were foreknown to death, we should no more pray for them than for the demons. And since for those who depart this life without grace there will be no further time for conversion, no prayer will be offered for them, neither by the Church militant, nor by the Church triumphant. For that which we have to pray for them is, as the Apostle says, that “God may give them repentance to know the truth, and they may recover themselves from the snares of the devil (Ib., 99, 3, ad 2).

5. Therefore prayer made for the damned is useless.
Not even the prayer of Saint Anthony can obtain the overturning of an eternal sentence.

However, it was not useless for you, because every good work, especially if it is done in the grace of God, is meritorious.

I bless you, I remember you in prayer and I wish you all the best.

Father Angelo