Pope Francis has urged the importance of believing in judgment and hell.

In a mass at his home in the Domus Sanctae Marthae yesterday he said it would "do us good to think about this: 'Well, what will that day be like when I am before Jesus? When he will ask me about the talents he gave me, what I did with them?'"

According to the Catholic News Service, he recalled his own experiences as a child, saying: "I remember when I was a boy, when I'd go to catechism they taught us four things: death, judgment, hell or glory – that after judgment there's this possibility" of going to hell or sharing in God's glory.

However, the children were incredulous, telling the priest he was attempting to frighten them.

But the priest, he said, insisted: "No, it's true! Because if you do not take care of your heart so that the Lord is with you, and you always live far from the Lord, perhaps there is this danger, the danger of continuing to be distanced from the Lord for all of eternity."

Francis said people should reflect on whether they have been receptive to God and whether the seed of his word was falling on thorns or barren places or on good soil.

He warned of "the deception of living as if you will never die".

"If each of us is faithful to the Lord, when death comes, we will say 'Come, Sister Death,' like St. Francis. It won't frighten us," he said.

"When Judgment Day comes we will look at the Lord [and say], 'Lord I have many sins, but I tried to be faithful.'" Because God was good, the Pope said said, he had promised: "Remain faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life."