What Purgatory Is

Purgatory is the state of purification after death in which those who die in the grace and friendship of God, but who are not yet wholly free from the stain of venial sin or the temporal punishment due to sins already forgiven, are cleansed so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of Heaven.

It is important to understand what Purgatory is not. It is not a "second chance" for repentance. Those who enter Purgatory are already saved — they have died in the state of grace and their eternal destiny is assured. They will reach Heaven. Purgatory is not a middle state between salvation and damnation, but the final preparation of the saved. Those who die in mortal sin descend immediately to Hell; there is no passage from Hell to Purgatory or from Purgatory to Hell.

To understand why Purgatory exists, one must understand the distinction between the eternal punishment and the temporal punishment due to sin. When a mortal sin is forgiven through the Sacrament of Penance, the eternal punishment — Hell — is remitted. But there often remains a temporal punishment: a debt of justice, a disordered attachment, a lingering imperfection that must still be satisfied or purged. An analogy drawn from ordinary life: a child who breaks a window and is forgiven by his father is still expected to pay for the glass. The guilt is removed; the consequence remains.

Moreover, venial sins — those lesser faults which do not destroy the life of grace in the soul but weaken it — may not all be repented of before death. The soul that departs this life with venial sin still clinging to it cannot enter immediately into the presence of God, for "there shall not enter into it any thing defiled" (Apocalypse 21:27). The fire of Purgatory cleanses what remains, so that the soul may stand before God in perfect holiness.

The Church's teaching on Purgatory is, above all, a doctrine of mercy. It tells us that God, in His infinite love, does not reject the imperfect soul that dies in His friendship but provides a means by which every remaining stain is removed. It also tells us that the living can help the dead — that the bond of charity stretches beyond the grave and that our prayers, sacrifices, and Masses offered for the faithful departed are truly efficacious. For a fuller treatment of the soul's journey after death, see The Last Things →