"If the pope pulls this off I will begin to believe in miracles..."

You just gave me yet another reason to hope he succeeds.

See Jazcat's answer on Excommunication. While I do find that you comment extensively "with authority" on things for which you appear to have very incomplete or incorrect knowledge, I apologize for the tone of the "staggering" comment above. After reading Jazcat's answer, which is a very good explanation of the question you raised, I realize that the whole concept of "excommunication" is not easily decipherable to those who know little or nothing about the church beyond pop culture critiques or TV sound bytes. So your misunderstanding of the topic is perhaps more understandable than my "staggering" comment allows.

In the future, I will try to avoid such tone: I will give you the benefit of the doubt and either answer your question to the best of my ability or not answer at all if I don't think I can explain it in a way you will understand.

You are missing the point. He gives us freedom, offers us the gift of love, but leaves us free to accept it or not. Hell is what we freely choose by rejecting the choice. He is not "punishing us". He is allowing us to choose what we want and does everything in his power to help us choose what is for our happiness. Everything except destroying this gift of freedom which would also destroy the possibility of love (and therefore the possibility of heaven). Since the individual free choice of some affects the exterior peace of others, some people are in circumstances that appear to be unfairly biased against their happiness. But, as repeated in scripture many times, the final judgement of every individual is affected by the hand they are dealt. Much is expected from those to whom much is given. Those in harsh circumstances who make the best choices they can based on what their circumstances allow them to understand will not be denied the love they tried for to the best of their ability.

You are still "temporally stuck" when it comes to causality. He cannot "know we will sin before he created us" unless he created us. He doesn't "try out" creating persons and then "undoes it" if the finished product makes the wrong choice. "Before and after" in a temporal sense is not applicable when considering causality from an eternal perspective (i.e. God's perspective which is entire outside of time). Creation is one single act taking place in eternity.

Ultimately, however, while I see "no problem here" I do see a great "mystery" as in something beyond my grasp. And that is the mystery of God's creative love. Why does he choose to create persons at all? The answer he has revealed to us is that of an totally free gift of creating beings to share in the great happiness that is his love. But really penetrating the nature of his individual choice as to whom he creates and why he decided to do so is "above my pay grade!"

Why should he be excommunicated? And what would his lack of excommunication have to do with whether or not he is in heaven or hell.

The gap between what you make statements about and what you appear to actually know is staggering.

yes, he made us to be people capable of love. A marvelous gift! But a gift that, by its essential nature, can be refused. The fact that it can be refused and that some (maybe even many) refuse it doesn't make the gift any less marvelous.

If you think of creation as one eternal now from God's perspective it is also not hard to visualize the causality of the situation as well. Specifically, we don't do it because God knows it. God knows it because be do it.

Have you read any comment whatsoever on forgiveness. For the Nth time, the church has always taught (consistent with Christ's words) the forgiveness is not possible without contrition: you can't seek forgiveness for something you never are willing to admit is wrong and to be avoided at all costs. "Why be pure and moral when forgiveness is so easily attained" is an attitude that precludes contrition, and therefore, forgiveness.

Not to mention that being "oure and moral" as you call it is the only formula for really living a happy life. Freely choosing to forego "pure and noble" is a great formula for foregoing deep and lasting happiness here in this life and in the next.

As I said in a previous comment, you cannot understand hell unless you really understand love and free will. God "gambled" by creating beings with truly free wills. Made for love, but free to hate: love is not love if it is not freely given, and if it is truly freely given, it can be freely refused.

Heaven is the definitive experience of choosing love: a freely chosen end. Hell is the opposite side of the same coin, the definitive experience of choosing hate: Hell is freely chosen and self inflicted!

Yes, you are quite right and I am very familiar with the difficulties involved. I grew up in such a family.

Please stick to your own ideas. Your comments on Catholic/Christian faith tell me that you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.

That in itself would be okay if you paraphrased your statements like the one above with "Maybe I have this wrong but the way I see Christianity, ...fill in what you think is true..." Then people will have an easier time correcting your many reasoning errors and misstatement of facts. They will see the same errors as before but at least get the sense that there is openness. But to state such tripe in a manner that implies "accept this without question" is a bit trying.

I have to be frank. While I try to be a patient commenter, much of what you post sounds like it is coming from what a friend of mine calls the classic young "liberal": i.e. someone who is eager to share their opinion as soon as somebody else tells them what it is. NOTE: liberal was in quotes because to really be liberal shouldn't have to be a negative