Most contemporary theologians would agree with the pope. Hell is not about fire and brimstone; it is about our freedom to say no to God, our freedom to reject love and choose loneliness. If you believe in freedom, you have to believe in hell.
When we close our hearts and tell the world to go to hell, we are in fact choosing hell for ourselves. Hell is the absence of love, companionship, communion. We are not sent there; we choose it.
God did not create hell; we did.
https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/signs-times/pope-francis-and-hell
https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/signs-times/pope-francis-and-hell