It is my understanding that the Church has no official stance on Dante's Inferno. Nor am I claiming to be any expert on the matter. To be honest, I am just now reading about some of the things that Dante Alighieri wrote about in his poem "The Divine Comedy", and they seem to be untrue. He depicts some of the past Popes as going to hell.

But the main concept in his poem describes Hell as having multiple levels. And I think that some theologians agree that this may be possible. Some good scripture quotes that may support this are...

Revelation 21:8- "But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sɛҳuąƖly immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars--their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death."

Matthew 13:50- "and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

2 Peter 2:4- "For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment;"

Matthew 25:30- "Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Matthew 11:20-24- "...But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.”

Notice how hell is described as "fiery lake of burning sulfur", "fiery furnace", "gloomy dungeons", "the outer darkness", etc. Can it be all these things at once? Or is it possible that there are different sections or levels in Hell? One of these descriptions that strikes me is "outer darkness". So if there is an outer darkness wouldn't there be an "inner darkness"? In which case, different levels in hell? Also, Matthew 11 makes an interesting point on how Sodomites won't have it as bad, in hell, as the unbelievers in Korazin and Bethsaida. I think this is enough for me to believe that there is at least different sections in Hell, but more likely, different levels.

It doesn't just stop here though. We should also consider Purgatory, and Heaven in order to come to this conclusion about Hell.

My understanding is, that Purgatory is the same as the Old Testament Sheol. In Old Testament times, there were some who believed that Sheol was divided into at least 2 different LEVELS. Those being upper Sheol for the righteous, and lower Sheol for the wicked. I personally believe in this concept because nobody went to Heaven or Hell until Jesus Christ came, and when Christ came He judged the living and the dead. So all souls went to Purgatory (Sheol) up until Christ came, and were later judged by Him. Why would God put all of these souls into the same place? That doesn't seem to be the nature of God. God separates the righteous from the wicked. He must have put the wicked souls into a different place than the righteous. Hence, upper Sheol for the righteous...lower Sheol for the wicked. Since Sheol is the same place as Purgatory, then Purgatory must have different LEVELS. I would be willing to bet that souls go to lower Purgatory to pay back more severe sins, and upper purgatory to pay back less severe sins. Given that Purgatory (Sheol) has different levels than why wouldn't Hell have this same nature? They both probably do have different levels.

Furthermore, some people in Old Testament times believed that Heaven has 7 different levels. I think this concept was derived from Genesis 1:1..

Genesis 1:1- "In the beginning God created the Heavens..."

Note how "Heavens" is plural which implies either multiple Heavens or possibly even different levels in Heaven. I have to say that I need to do a bit more research on Heaven having multiple levels. But as of right now, I think that is how it is. Would this not help the argument that Hell and Purgatory have different levels? I think it does.

In sum, I think it is likely that Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven have multiple levels or different sections. This would make Dante's Divine comedy true to some extent.

Few today are even aware that Pope Benedict XV, on April 30th, 1921, just one year after his teaching encyclical on how the Scriptures reveal all truth, wrote a different kind of encyclical letter, praising the Catholic writings of Dante.

1921: In Praeclara Summorum

‘Beloved Children,
Among the many celebrated geniuses of whom the Catholic faith can boast who have left undying fruits in literature and art especially, besides other fields of learning, and to whom civilization and religion are ever in debt, highest stands the name of Dante Alighieri [1265-1321], the sixth centenary of whose death will soon be recorded. Never perhaps has his supreme position been recognized as it is today. Not only Italy, justly proud of having given him birth, but all the civil nations are preparing with special committees of learned men to celebrate his memory that the whole world may pay honour to that noble figure, pride and glory of humanity.’  

No doubt Rome did not consider Dante wrote anything that was blasphemy or heresy.

If I must glory (it is not expedient indeed), but I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ above fourteen years ago (whether in the body, I know not, or out of the body, I know not; God knoweth), such a one caught up to the third heaven. And I know such a man (whether in the body, or out of the body, I know not: God knoweth), That he was caught up into paradise, and heard secret words, which it is not granted to man to utter.

St. Paul's Second Epistle to the Corinthians xii:i-iv

Haydock Commentary:

Ver. 1. If I must glory. St. Paul in the whole of this discourse shews the repugnance he had of speaking in his own praise, and that if he did it, it was only through constraint, and for the advantage of the Corinthians; as also to defend himself from his calumniators. (Calmet)

Ver. 2. I know a man, &c. He speaks of himself, as it were of a third person. --- Whether in the body, I know not. If St. Paul himself knew not, how can we pretend to decide, whether his soul was for some moments separated from his body, or in what manner he saw God. (Witham) --- It appears that this took place about the period when the Holy Ghost commanded that he should be separated for the work whereunto he was called. (Acts xiii. 2.)

Ver. 4. Caught up into paradise. St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas are of opinion that this third heaven and paradise are the same place, and designate the abode of the blessed. In order to understand the language of the apostle, we must observe that the Hebrews distinguished three different heavens. The first comprised the air, the clouds, &c. as far as the fixed stars. The second included all the fixed stars; and the third was the abode of Angels, in which God himself discovered his infinite glory, &c. The first is called in Scripture simply the heavens, the second the firmament, and the third the heaven of heavens. (Calmet)