What is meant by saying that Jesus “descended into hell”?
The Catechism of the Catholic Church answers your questions extensively (numbers 631-637), and I suggest you study the matter there. “Hell” here does not mean the abode of the damned (the inferno or gehenna) but rather the abode of the dead of the Old Testament, who died in the state of grace, and therefore, who were saved by their belief in the future Messiah, and who were awaiting Christ’s ascension when the gates of heaven would be again opened for human beings and they would accompany Him into paradise. Christ, whose soul was temporarily with them, while His body lay in the sepulcher, preached to them (1 Peter 4:6 and John 5:25).
