Purgatory

Purgatory, or "the final purification of the elect", is the process by which, according to Catholic doctrine, "all who die in God's grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven."

All the ancient Christian Churches pray for the dead in the belief that they are thereby assisted. But the way the final purification of the dead is pictured developed distinctive features in the Latin-speaking West and the Greek-speaking East. In the West, the term purgatorium (cleansing) was used to name this process of purification, and purgatory was often described as a place of purging fire. Differences on these non-dogmatic elements were discussed at the Council of Florence.

Eastern Orthodox theology does not generally describe the process of purification after death as involving suffering, resulting in a distinctly Eastern understanding of the final purification, which nevertheless describes it as a "direful condition" from which, through the prayers and good works of the living, souls are delivered before the common resurrection and judgment, . Naturally, Greek theology does not employ the Latin term "purgatory", and the doctrine is often seen by Orthodox theologians as a doctrinal difference. Eastern Catholic Churches – including those of Greek tradition – in full communion with the Latin Catholic Church interpret the Greek articulation of a "final theosis" and the Latin articulation of "purgatory" as essentially equivalent expressions of a final purification.

During the Protestant Reformation, certain Protestant theologians developed a view of salvation (soteriology) that excluded Purgatory. Today, Protestants, with few exceptions, do not believe in a process of purification after death.

Apart from this strict sense of the word "Purgatory", the term is sometimes, though rarely, used of the temporary purification or punishment for wrong-doing that people other than Catholics believe takes place after death. In this sense, the word is used in connection with the belief of, for instance, Buddhists.