The popular beatification of Princess Diana forces an indiscreet theological question: where is she now? In the Christian scheme of things, God judged the most popular woman on earth after her death and sent her soul to heaven, purgatory or hell.
If heaven was her fate, God smiles on her posthumous veneration. Purgatory is where the saved burn off their impurities, so at least a ticket to heaven is guaranteed (and prayers might even speed her deliverance). Hell, however, cannot be ruled out. If Diana died with "grave sins" on her soul-a not unlikely circumstance-she is probably now in hell, beyond hope and prayer, and thus unworthy of the slightest reverence, let alone a funeral service at Westminster Abbey.
Let us consider the three possibilities in more detail. The 1994 Catechism of the Catholic Church, the most comprehensive modern compendium of Christian doctrine (bearing the imprimatur of John Paul II), is unequivocal. Although the Church of England differs sharply from the Pope on female ordination, married priests and divorce, its beliefs about matters relating to Diana's salvation (namely, adultery and fornication) are essentially the same.
The argument for heaven is, I am afraid, weak. Church tradition reserves instant entry for saints, martyrs and baptised babies who die before reaching the age of reason. Nobody else qualifies. Diana's good works may have been very good, but her trespasses, large and small, surely barred St Peter's gate, at least temporarily.
That leaves purgatory or hell, depending on the state of her soul at the moment of death. As the Catechism says, "To die in mortal sin without repenting and accepting God's merciful love means remaining separated from him for ever." In other words, hell.
Princess Diana's soul was in dire peril of damnation on the evening of 30th August, assuming that she and Emad "Dodi" Al Fayed had committed unrepented fornication ("carnal union between an unmarried man and an unmarried woman") during their romantic holiday in France. Let us remember that all sex acts outside marriage, and not a few within, are hell-bent offences in the Catechism. Masturbation, homosexual relations and watching the Playboy television channel rank, in scale of punishment, with running drug cartels and exterminating aboriginal populations. Adultery and fornication remain as satanic today as they were in King Solomon's time.
On the other hand, if Diana had begged God's forgiveness after the car crash, and if she expired in his grace, she would have been cast into the "cleansing fires" of purgatory, there to expiate her sins before ascending to heaven. Diana's last thoughts are unknown, but if they did not include sincere sorrow for lying with Dodi, even purgatory is a long shot.
Consequently, hell looms as the most plausible spot for the princess's soul. Christian dogma, immutable and infallible, requires sinners in her presumed spiritual condition-stained by mortal sin-to be condemned. "Depart from me, you cursed, into eternal fire," said Christ of the doomed.
In a surprising move, the Pope overlooked the damaging evidence against Diana and gave a positive signal as to her redemption. "The Holy Father has offered prayers summoning her to our Heavenly Father's eternal love," he wrote in the third person to Queen Elizabeth on 1st September. His remark implied purgatory. Mohamed Al Fayed, Dodi's father, is surely permitted to exclaim in grief: "God took their souls to live together in paradise." But how do we explain the Pope's apparent blessing of the world's most famous offender against the sixth commandment?
A devil's advocate might detect hypocrisy in the papal posture. People who meet their Maker en route to an illicit and scandalous rendez-vous do not generally receive benedictions from Vati- can City. The exception of the Princess of Wales suggests that the church's official position on sex crimes and punishment cannot withstand rational scrutiny. (Dr Martin Luther King's infidelities are on a par with Dr Joseph Mengele's experiments on children.)
The idea of Diana in hell seems cruel and repellent in human terms, although it comfortably suits the divine. "The gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few," declared Christ on the depressing odds against anybody's salvation.
Roman/Anglican theology, which demonises deviations of the flesh, leaves little room for optimism in Diana's case. But that tells us more about the chilling core of Christianity than about the ultimate worth of a young, kind, sometimes foolish beauty who had the misfortune to marry a prince and perish with a playboy.
