Is hell really eternal and irreversible?

QUESTION: after all the words said by the Pope about the infinite mercy of God, Who gives a chance to any sinner, it seems strange that He allows an eternal, irreversible hell.

ANSWER: The irreversibility and eternity of hell is a truth that seems inconsistent with belief in God’s mercy. Therefore, there have always been thinkers who hypothesized about the reversibility of hell. They argued that God could have delivered from hell after the necessary punishment, even the most monstrous and prolonged. Of course, Almighty God could deliver from hell after the necessary punishment, but apart from the will of God there is also the stubbornness of the sinner, the will of the condemned man who does not want to love God and wants to remain in hell. No one, not even God, can force a person to love.