imageDaniel Burke over at Religion News Service What did Jesus do on Holy Saturday?

Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and most mainline Protestant churches teach that Jesus descended to the realm of the dead on Holy Saturday to save righteous souls, such as the Hebrew patriarchs, who died before his crucifixion.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church calls the descent “the last phase of Jesus’ messianic mission,’’ during which he “opened heaven’s gates for the just who had gone before him.”

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But some Protestants say there is scant scriptural evidence for the hellish detour, and that Jesus’ own words contradict it.