Caminus,
I've found other examples of dubious orthdoxy in this encyclopedia. Most notably that it is acceptable for Catholics to hold the opinion that God plucks souls out of Hell. This goes directly against the Catholic teaching on the eternity of Hell and, I believe, was the opening of the theological door for the universal salvation crowd.
It looks like Modernism was beginning to make subtle inroads even in 1908.
Not only that, it makes God out to be a goofy screw-up who got it wrong the first time. Imagine him saying, "Whoops what are you doing in hell, you weren't supposed to be there. My bad. Here let me get you out."
Exactly.
However, I was told the idea "violates no dogma" and is therefore not heretical to hold.
To the contrary I believe you cited a Council or infallible teaching touching on the eternity of Hell a while back, though I can't put my finger on it.
In any case, if we are allowed as Catholics to hold that Hell is not necessarily eternal, we may as well throw the whole thing out. The notion is utterly absurd. Neo-Caths and Trads had a field day with that CE entry. One even has a blog post where he cites the CE article claiming it is a possibility. It's shameful.
There are other questionable articles in it as well. It is sad but you really have to double check the old CE's information. The Modernist infestation began before 1900 so I suppose it is not surprising to see errors in the CE. It is such a vast and expansive work.
Neo-Trads will use it as a source of unquestioning orthodoxy when it suits them.