DID JESUS DESCEND INTO HELL FIRE (GEHENNA) ?

QUESTION? / COMMENT!

Jesse mentioned last night about the creed being off on the part where we say:  
“He descended into hell”, or should it read “Into the depths of the earth?"
So knowing this, are we to remain silent when reciting the creed at mass ? What’s proper?

ANSWER! / COMMENT!

Great question!

In 1998 the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) produced a catechetical note explaining that the traditional English translation “He descended into hell” can be misleading; the Latin adverbial phrase ad inferos (or ad inferna) and the Greek katachthonion refer to Christ’s descent to the realm of the dead (Sheol/Hades), not to Gehenna (the place of eternal punishment). The note and related catechetical guidance say Catholics understand the phrase as Christ’s entrance into the abode of the dead—liberating the just—rather than a descent into the place of the damned - https://www.usccb.org/committees/doctrine/interpretation-apostles-creed-...

Yes, you should still say that prayer because the word "hell" is used in a wide semantic range in Catholic creedal theology. 

Even though the creed uses the word “hell,” Catholic doctrine teaches that in this creed it is “hell” in the sense of the abode of the dead (Sheol/Hades), not “hell” in the sense of final punishment (Gehenna).

Christ’s “descent into hell” is not His descent into the final place of punishment, but His entrance into the world/realm of the dead (Sheol/Hades)—this is exactly how the Church’s catechetical teaching explains the creed (CCC 631).

The word “hell” can refer “both to the abode of all the dead before Christ’s resurrection… and to the abode of the damned only after the resurrection” (St Paul Center for biblical theology).

Here is a good article that explains the details - https://stpaulcenter.com/posts/did-jesus-really-descend-into-hell