VATICAN CITY, March 29 (Reuters) - The Vatican on Thursday rebuked a well-known Italian journalist who quoted Pope Francis as saying hell does not exist.
The Vatican issued a statement after the comments spread on social media, saying they did not properly reflect what the pope had said.
Eugenio Scalfari, 93, an avowed atheist who has struck up an intellectual friendship with Francis, met the pope recently and wrote up a long story that included a question-and-answer section at the end.
The Vatican said the pope did not grant him an interview and the article "was the fruit of his reconstruction" not a "faithful transcription of the Holy Father's words."
Scalfari, the founder of Italy's La Repubblica newspaper, has prided himself on not taking notes and not using tape recorders during his encounters with leaders and later reconstructing the meetings to create lengthy articles.