e temporal punishment which must be satisfied in this
life or in the life to come. That is true, the Church teaches, even of
unrepented venial sin with its debt of temporal punishment. While
venial sin does not destroy the supernatural life of the soul and while,
therefore, it is not said to be punishable in Hell, still it is sin in
the sight of Him "whose eyes are too pure to behold evil." (Hab., I,
13.) Now the Church has ever held that into Heaven "there shall not
enter anything defiled." (Apoc., XXI, 27.) Likewise, she has taught that
Hell is the eternal punishment of souls whose grievous guilt has not
been forgiven. It follows, therefore, according to her teachings, that
there must be a middle state for the cleansing of unrepented venial sins
and for the satisfaction of sins already forgiven but not wholly
expiated.

This state or place is called Purgatory, the belief in the existence of
which is confirmed by the practice of praying for the dead, a practice
based on the teachings of the Old and of the New Testament. In the
second book of Maccabees (XII, 43, 46) we read that Judas, the general
of the Hebrew army, "sent twelve thousand drachms of silver to Jerusalem
for sacrifice to be offered for the sins of the dead, thinking well and
religiously concerning the resurrection. (For if he had not hoped that
they that were slain should rise again, it would have seemed superfluous
and vain to pray for the dead.) And because he considered that they who
had fallen asleep with godliness had great grace laid up for them. It
is, therefore, a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead that
they may be loosed from sins."

This doctrine presupposes that the dead for whom prayer is profitable
are neither in Heaven, the abode of the elect, nor in Hell, from which
release is not possible, but in a state of purification, lasting for a
time. The New Testament alludes to that state. Christ declares: "And
whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of Man, it shall be
forgiven him; but he that shall speak against the Holy Ghost, it shall
not be forgiven him, neither in this world nor in the world to come."
(Matt., XII, 32.) These words imply that there is a future state in
which some sins are purged away, while there is another state (Hell) in
which the punishment is eternal. The words of St. Paul: "If any man's
work burn, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so
as by fire" (1 Cor., III, 15), are interpreted