Catechism of the Catholic Church

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633 Scripture calls the abode of the dead, to which the dead Christ went down, "hell" - Sheol in Hebrew or Hades in Greek - because those who are there are deprived of the vision of God. 479 Such is the case for all the dead, whether evil or righteous, while they await the Redeemer: which does not mean that their lot is identical, as Jesus shows through the parable of the poor man Lazarus who was received into "Abraham's bosom": 480 "It is precisely these holy souls, who awaited their Saviour in Abraham's bosom, whom Christ the Lord delivered when he descended into hell." 481 Jesus did not descend into hell to deliver the damned, nor to destroy the hell of damnation, but to free the just who had gone before him. 482

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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PART ONE: THE PROFESSION OF FAITH

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SECTION TWO: THE PROFESSION OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH

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CHAPTER TWO: I BELIEVE IN JESUS CHRIST, THE ONLY SON OF GOD

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ARTICLE 5: "HE DESCENDED INTO HELL. ON THE THIRD DAY HE ROSE AGAIN"

Notes for the above paragraph:

479 Cf. Phil 2:10; Acts 2:24; Rev 1:18; Eph 4:9; Ps 6:6; 88:11-13.

480 Cf. Ps 89:49; I Sam 28:19; Ezek 32:17-32; Lk 16:22-26.

481 Roman Catechism 1, 6, 3.

482 Cf. Council of Rome (745): DS 587; Benedict XII, Cum dudum (1341): DS 1011; Clement VI, Super quibusdam (1351): DS 1077; Council of Toledo IV (625): DS 485; Mt 27:52-53.

English Translation of the Cathechism of the Catholic Church for the United States of America © 1997, United States Catholic Conference, Inc.

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