The Pope Hopes No One is in Hell: A problematic view of God’s justice – Allah's Willing Executioners

In a television interview watched by millions, Pope Francis recently made a comment about hell that has been widely reported.
In the words of the Catholic News Agency:
“When asked by the interviewer, Fabio Fazio, how he ‘imagines hell,’ Pope Francis gave a short response. ‘What I am going to say is not a dogma of faith but my own personal view: I like to think of hell as empty; I hope it is.’”
I have a different — indeed, completely opposite — view.
I should make it clear that I, too, hope that sometime in the future — hopefully the near future — no one will be sent to hell. That would mean goodness had finally so prevailed on Earth that not one person was deserving of punishment in the afterlife.
But as of this moment, I fervently hope that some people are in hell — or whatever one wishes to call punishment after life; just as I hope some people are in heaven — or whatever one wishes to call reward in an afterlife.
Why? Because if no one is punished after death, that would mean …