What Is Purgatory?

Often Mocked, Rarely Understood

Purgatory is one of the most mocked and misunderstood Catholic teachings. Some imagine it as a kind of temporary hell. Others think it was invented in the Middle Ages to raise money. Many Catholics themselves are unsure whether the Church still teaches it.

She does. Purgatory is a defined doctrine of the Catholic faith, taught by the Councils of Florence (1439) and Trent (1563) and set out in the Catechism (CCC 1030–1032). And properly understood, it is one of the most consoling truths of the Faith.

What Purgatory Is

The Catechism explains that all who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation. But after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven (CCC 1030).

The Church calls this final purification purgatory, from the Latin purgare, “to cleanse.” She stresses that it is entirely different from the punishment of the damned (CCC 1031).

Three things follow:

1. Everyone in purgatory is saved. Purgatory is not a place of doubt or danger. Every soul there will certainly reach heaven.
2. Purgatory is not a second chance. Only those who die in God’s friendship go there. It is not for those who have rejected Him.
3. Purgatory is temporary. At the end of time, there will be only heaven and hell.

Why Is Purgatory Necessary?

Scripture says that nothing unclean shall enter heaven (Revelation 21:27). Heaven means seeing God face to face, and only the perfectly pure can bear that vision. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8).

Most of us, honestly, are not perfectly pure when we die. We may have repented of our serious sins, but we still carry attachments to sin, bad habits, selfishness and lukewarmness. And even forgiven sins can leave consequences that still need to be healed. The Church calls this temporal punishment due to sin (CCC 1472).

Think of a child who breaks a neighbour’s window. He apologises, and the neighbour forgives him. The relationship is restored. But the window still needs mending. Forgiveness and repair are two different things.

Purgatory is God completing the work of healing that He began in us during life. It is not God being harsh. It is God being thorough.

Is Purgatory in the Bible?

The word “purgatory” is not in the Bible, any more than the word “Trinity” is. But the reality is found there.

Prayer for the dead. In the Second Book of Maccabees, Judas Maccabeus has prayers and sacrifices offered for soldiers who had died, “that they might be delivered from their sin” (2 Maccabees 12:46). Such prayers would make no sense if the dead were already in heaven, where they need no help, or in hell, where no help is possible.

Saved, but as through fire. St Paul writes that on the Day of the Lord, each person’s work will be tested by fire. If someone’s work is burnt up, “he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire” (1 Corinthians 3:15).

Forgiveness in the age to come. Jesus speaks of a sin that “will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come” (Matthew 12:32). The early Church understood this to mean that some sins can be forgiven after death (CCC 1031).

The Early Church Prayed for the Dead

Praying for the dead was not a medieval invention. It goes back to the earliest Christians. Inscriptions in the Roman catacombs ask for prayers for the departed. St Augustine tells us that his dying mother, St Monica, asked only one thing of him: to remember her at the altar of the Lord. Christians have offered Mass for the dead from the earliest times (CCC 1032).

What Is Purgatory Like?

The Church has defined that purgatory exists, but not many details about it. She has not defined that it is a place, how long it lasts, or what exactly the “fire” is.

The saints who wrote about purgatory, such as St Catherine of Genoa, describe it as a state of both suffering and great joy. The suffering is the pain of longing to be with God and not yet being ready. The joy comes from knowing that one is saved and that every moment brings one closer to Him. The souls in purgatory would not want to enter heaven unpurified, any more than a guest would want to go into a wedding banquet in muddy clothes.

How We Can Help the Holy Souls

Because of the communion of saints, we can help the souls in purgatory.

• Have Mass offered for them. This is the greatest help we can give (CCC 1032).
• Pray for them. The traditional prayer is: “Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace.”
• Offer up sacrifices and good works for them.
• Gain indulgences for them. In particular, the Church grants a plenary indulgence, applicable to the souls in purgatory, to those who visit a cemetery and pray for the dead between 1 and 8 November, under the usual conditions.

November is the month of the Holy Souls, beginning with All Souls’ Day on 2 November.

A Mercy, Not a Threat

Purgatory is good news. It means that God does not demand perfection of us before we die. It means that those who die loving God, but still weak and unfinished, can be made ready for heaven.

It also means that our love for those who have died does not end at the graveside. We can still help them, and one day they will thank us.

See also What Is the Communion of Saints? and What Happens When You Die? Death and the Particular Judgement

Go deeper: What Is Purgatory Like? Fire, Time and Purification in Catholic Theology