Purgatory in Catholic Theology and Tradition.

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Gregory J. D. Light
Dr. Robert Kennedy

Catholic Studies 200:00

04.05.2004

Purgatory in Catholic Theology and Tradition

        In the early part of the 16th Century, a Catholic priest, theologian, and professor named Martin Luther began promoting the reform of the Catholic Church.  On the cathedral door in Wittenberg, Germany in 1517, he posted his ’95 theses’, a document he produced of all the reforms he believed were necessary to remedy the current corruption in the Church.  This led to a massive revolt against the Church called the Protestant Reformation which eventually resulted in many divisions within the Christian faith.

        One of the main arguments against the Church at this time was that Church Tradition and the Magisterium should have no authority in theological matters.  Instead, Luther taught that Christianity should be based solely on Scripture.  This is called the doctrine of sola scriptura, or “the Bible alone” and is the pillar of Lutheranism.  As a result, many Catholic beliefs and practices that do not coincide with Protestant theology are deemed unbiblical and thus false.  Protestants equate biblical authority with Truth and thus eliminate all the authority of Church Tradition and magisterial teaching.  Since Purgatory does not seem to have any Biblical backing by many Protestants, they see it as a heretical teaching and it is thus disregarded.  Purgatory, in fact, has many biblical references and the tradition can be seen in many instances, but more specifically in Dante’s Divine Comedy.

        The words Trinity and Incarnation do not appear in the Bible, yet they are undeniably the two most fundamental truths of the Christian faith.  We hold dear the beliefs that God is three Persons in one, and that His Son came down to earth and became human in every aspect but sin.  Like the Trinity and the Incarnation, the belief in purgatory is a fundamental truth of the Christian faith, yet the word does not appear in the Bible.  Is this to say that these are beliefs fashioned by the Tradition and Magisterium of the Catholic Church?  This question might often be answered with a resounding ‘YES’.  In both the Old Testament and the New Testament however, there are passages alluding to the existence of an intermediate state of cleansing – that is to say a purging of sin or purgatory.

        Christians have practiced prayer for the dead as early as 250 AD, and the Jews before Jesus’ time also prayed for the dead.  Since prayers for the dead are not efficacious to those in Heaven, nor to those in Hell, they must have believed there were some who still required prayers in the afterlife.  Our deceased loved ones who are in need of our prayers are those who are in purgatory.

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        Before delving any further into issues regarding purgatory, we must first define and clarify what, exactly, this belief is.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) dedicates three paragraphs to this issue.  It states that there is purification after death, that this purification involved some kind of discomfort or pain, and that God assists those in this purification in response to the actions of the living, or in other words, prayer for the dead is helpful (CCC 1030-1032).  These statements have thorough Biblical backing for each.  The purification the Catechism speaks of is a cleansing fire, but with hope:

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