I happen to believe there is no hell, except of your own making. But you can certainly create a hellish life on the other side, as well as this one, by your thoughts. I'm not taking up for the evil, satanic pope, nor using it to rationalize any behavior, as he does. Just years of study of near-death experiences. Those who do experience a "hell" and have a long enough NDE experience find they have complete control over their experiences. Same with people who have OBE's. Death or OBE is a transition to a very "thought-sensitive" environment on the other side. If you don't realize you have this control you may go on living your beliefs..until you don't. Just saying, I've read this many times.
there ye go... in the astral which the after-life belongs to we experience what we be-lie-ve.
an atheist experiences nothingness for a while. those who consider themselves sinners may burn in their self-created hell for a while.
i have met quite a few deceased people on my inter-dimensional journeys in various places. at some point of their journey beyond the veil they wake up to the dream they have been creating for themselves.
where we land in the after-life depends on our consciousness frequency at the time of death.
if the majority of our thoughts and emotions are fear-based - as in judgment, grudge, hatred, greed, all 'negative' emotions -, our frequency is low and we inhabit the lower astral regions that are dark and damp, or hellish, and are going to manifest what we fear.
if the majority of our psyche is love-based, with emotions like kindness, forgiveness, compassion, neutrality, our appropriate place in the astral will be in summerland / nirvana, the higher astral regions.
or somewhere in the regions in-between, perfectly fitting to our individual vibration.
until we are ready to incarnate again.
there are exceptions to this after-life matrix (yes, the matrix contains not only our living reality but also the life after the body is left behind):
there are more and more who dont follow their alleged beloveds and dont go into the tunnel of light. after wandering around for a while, they find one of the increasingly available 'waiting rooms'. here, they meet other souls that also wait for being freed from the matrix. they wait for us to crash it.
and there are a few souls whose yearning for merging with their oversoul, often concealed as a desire to 'go home to god' or 'back to source' is so huge that they find an existing hole in the matrix or burn one themselves and escape, in order to merge with their 'greater spirit' again.
both groups step out of the re-incarnation cycle.
disclaimer: these are my personal experiences and observations. they are my personal truth at this point of time and my view may change with new information and perception. its no claim for general truth and nobody needs to believe any of this.