Purgatory: Answering Seven Key Questions About The Church’s Teachings, by Alfred Hanley

St. Faustina (d. 1938), shown purgatory by her guardian angel, once recalled: “I was in a misty place full of fire in which there was a great crowd of suffering souls. They were praying fervently for themselves, but to no avail; only we can come to their aid. . . . I asked these souls what their greatest suffering was. They answered me in one voice that their greatest torment was longing for God” (Diary, 20).

What does the Catholic Church teach about purgatory?

Jesus by His Cross atoned for our sins, and His mercy forgives our sins if we repent of them. God’s justice, however, requires us to suffer a purification of our sins’ consequences. If we do not satisfy God’s justice in this life, God allows us to satisfy it in the next – in purgatory, where God’s mercy and justice meet. 

The reality of purgatory is a definitive teaching of the Church binding upon the belief of all Catholics, as pronounced by the Catechism of the Catholic Church:   …