Does purgatory exist?

Q Does purgatory really exist?  If it exists, where is it?

A Yes, purgatory does exist.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church states in paragraphs 1030 – 1032:  “All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but (are) 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.  The church gives the name “Purgatory” to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned. 

The church formulated her doctrine of faith on purgatory especially at the councils of Florence and Trent. This teaching is also based on the practice of prayer for the dead, already mentioned in sacred Scripture: “Therefore (Judas Maccabeus) made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin” (2 Mc 12:46).

“From the beginning, the church has honored the memory of the dead and offered prayers in suffrage for them, above all the eucharistic sacrifice, so that, thus purified, they may attain the beatific vision of God. The church also commends almsgiving, indulgences and works of penance undertaken on behalf of the dead.”

So, where does this purification take place?  Is it a place? There are differences of opinion on this.

Karlo Broussand, a Catholic Answers apologist, states the church has never ruled on this.  She wrote some theologians refer to purgatory as “having a spatial locality (occupying space), you know, under the earth, and sort of ‘the bowels of the earth,’ but that’s pure speculation.”

Other theologians argue purgatory doesn’t have a place, it’s just a state of existence — a condition of the soul, you might say, where the soul is existing in the afterlife but is not restricted to any spatial location. Because the souls in purgatory don’t have any bodies, it seems to me that it’s unreasonable to speak of purgatory as a physical location, because there’s no matter to take up space.  After the final judgement, when we are united with our bodies, the question of place has more significance.

It should not matter to us where purgatory is because it does exist.  That’s the important thing.  St. Thomas Aquinas says, “It is sufficiently clear that there is a purgatory after this life. For if the debt of punishment is not paid in full after the stain of sin has been washed away by contrition, nor again are venial sins always removed when mortal sins are remitted, and if justice demands that sin be set in order by due punishment, it follows that one who after contrition for his fault and after being absolved, dies before making due satisfaction, is punished after this life. Wherefore, those who deny purgatory speak against the justice of God: for which reason such a statement is erroneous and contrary to faith.”

Gregory of Nyssa, after the words quoted above, adds: “This we preach, holding to the teaching of truth, and this is our belief; this the universal church holds, by praying for the dead that they may be loosed from sins. This cannot be understood except as referring to purgatory: and whosoever resists the authority of the church, incurs the note of heresy” (Summa Theologiae, Appendix II, Article 1, Whether there is a Purgatory after this life?).

Deacon Hooper is a deacon assistant at Immaculate Conception Church in Denham Springs. He can be reached at [email protected].