Quote:
	
	
		| Originally posted by chitownxo Purgatory is no longer an official teaching of the Catholic church.  I have heard that it never was, but I'm not sure which is the correct version.   From what I do know, the concept of purgatory came about as an answer to the question, "What if I'm neither good, nor bad where do I go?"  Hey, you're going to purgatory...a kind of netherworldish waiting room where you wait for your sins to be forgiven.
 | 
	
 It is limbo -- the place for unbaptized children and the righteous who died prior to the coming of Christ --  that is no longer an official teaching.  Purgatory -- the place of purification of the soul from the "stain" of venial (minor) sins and and temporal punishment for mortal (major) sins prior to entry into heaven -- is still an official teaching.