Pope Francis expresses deep affection for the death of atheist journalist Eugenio Scalfari

A journalist who claims to have had encounters with the Holy Father has received a lot of love from Pope Francis despite the Vatican’s numerous corrections and denials of his assertions.

This week, 98-year-old journalist Eugenio Scalfari, a legendary figure in Italian media, passed away. The founder and former editor of the leftist newspaper La Repubblica in Italy was a self-described atheist.

In a statement by the Director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni, the Vatican said Pope Francis had learned “with sorrow of the passing of his friend.”

Pope Francis “cherishes with affection the memory of the meetings — and the deep conversations on the ultimate questions of humankind — that he had with him over the years, and he entrusts his soul to the Lord in prayer, so that He may receive him and console those who were close to him,” Vatican news reported.

Scalfari’s claims that Pope Francis had denied, in personal encounters, the reality of hell and the divinity of Jesus, amongst other things, made headlines around the world.

Vatican spokespersons dismissed the texts of Scalfari as unofficial.

In 2014, Father Federico Lombardi, past papal spokesperson, told CNA that “if there are no words published by the Holy See press office and not officially confirmed, the writer takes full responsibility for what he has written.”

Scalfari incorrectly claimed that remarks made by Pope Francis in 2015 denied the reality of hell.

He also claimed in March 2018 that Pope Francis told him “hell doesn’t exist, the disappearance of the souls of sinners exists.”

The Vatican emphatically refuted Scalfari’s assertion that Pope Francis had stated that he did not think Jesus Christ was divine in 2019.

The Vatican added that there had never even been an interview. Instead, this was a “private meeting for the occasion of Easter,” according to the Holy See Press office.

In a 2013 discussion with reporters from the Foreign Press Association of Rome, Scalfari said that he had never used a recording device or taken notes while an interviewee was speaking.

“I try to understand the person I am interviewing, and after that I write his answers with my own words,” Scalfari explained. He conceded that it is therefore possible that “some of the Pope’s words I reported, were not shared by Pope Francis.”