What does the Church teach about purgatory?
On this episode of The Catholic Talk Show, Ryan Scheel, Ryan DellaCrosse, and Fr. Rich Pagano discuss what the Catholic Church teaches about purgatory and indulgences.
Why purgatory is necessary, even though Jesus suffered and died for our sins
Ryan Scheel explains:
“Sin has consequences. There are two very specific types of consequences.
“If you’ve ever been in trouble with the law, (thankfully no one at this table ever has). Say you and your friends are out smoking weed and decide to steal a car. You’re 15 or 16 [years old] and it’s pretty snowy out. You’re just going to Taco Bell, and you crash into something, ruin the car and get in trouble.”
“There’s two sets of consequences there: there is the legal consequence, as well as the temporal consequence, or the consequence that has to be made up.
“The judge says, ‘You stole a car and crashed it. This means you will serve 60 days in jail. But you also have to make retribution. Retribution demands that you pay for this car and what you’ve damaged.”
“Jesus Christ has suffered the penalty of the jail time by his crucifixion. We do not owe jail time to the judge anymore because of that. But we still have to make reparation for the damaged stuff. And that’s the same way that purgatory works.
“Jesus Christ won for us the forgiveness of our sins, but we still have to pay the time and the reparation for our attachment to sin and the things that we’ve done. So that’s why purgatory is so necessary.”
The guys also answer these questions:
• Is purgatory in the Bible?
• What is purgatory actually like?
• Does the Catholic Church sell indulgences?
• What do indulgences do?
• Does the Church still teach about limbo?
Listen to this week’s episode below:
Click here if you cannot see the video above.
May the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
[See also: 5 Fascinating Facts You Might Not Know About Lent]
[See also: 15 Annoying Things That Need to Stop Happening During Mass]