The sale of indulgences for time off in Purgatory fueled the Protestant Reformation in 1517, which in turn sparked a series of wars between European Christians. In 1563, Catholics formally outlawed the sale of indulgences.
The Catholic Church holds that "all who die in God's grace and friendship but still imperfectly purified" undergo a process of purification, which the Church calls purgatory, "so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven".
Roman Catholic Christians who believe in purgatory interpret passages such as 2 Maccabees 12:41–46, 2 Timothy 1:18, Matthew 12:32, Luke 23:43, 1 Corinthians 3:11–3:15 and Hebrews 12:29 as support for prayer for purgatorial souls who are believed to be within an active interim state for the dead undergoing purifying ...
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, purgatory is “a state of final purification after death and before entrance into heaven for those who died in God's friendship, but were only imperfectly purified; a final cleansing of human imperfection before one is able to enter the joy of heaven.” A soul which has ...
Augustine declared that all unbaptized babies went to hell upon death. By the Middle Ages, the idea was softened to suggest a less-severe fate, limbo. Never part of formal doctrine because it does not appear in Scripture, limbo was removed from the Catholic Catechism 15 years ago.
Pope Benedict XVI signed a theological report, years in the making, that effectively demoted limbo, a place neither in heaven nor in hell, where unbaptized babies would not be in communion with God but would nonetheless enjoy eternal happiness.
Most Roman Catholic priests and hierarchy will now say that no child could ever be condemned for the sins committed by our ancestors and that they no longer believe that limbo for children exists.
The most prominent modern historian of the idea of Purgatory, Jacques Le Goff, dates the term purgatorium to around 1170; and in 1215 the Church began to set out the actual length of time in Purgatory required of souls.
The idea of purification or temporary punishment after death has ancient roots and is well attested in early Christian literature. The conception of purgatory as a geographically situated place is largely the achievement of medieval Christian piety and imagination.
At the shores of Purgatory, Dante and Virgil meet Cato, a pagan who was placed by God as the general guardian of the approach to the mountain (his symbolic significance has been much debated).
A popular German religious manual of the fifteenth century ("Der Selen Troïst", 1474) even divides the Hail Mary into four portions, and declares that the first part was composed by the Angel Gabriel, the second by St. Elizabeth, the third, consisting only of the Sacred Name.
Catholics do not pray to Mary as if she were God. Prayer to Mary is memory of the great mysteries of our faith (Incarnation, Redemption through Christ in the rosary), praise to God for the wonderful things he has done in and through one of his creatures (Hail Mary) and intercession (second half of the Hail Mary).
The earliest recorded prayer to Mary is the sub tuum praesidium (3rd or 4th century) and the earliest depictions of her are from the Priscilla catacombs in Rome (early 3rd century).
The Roman Catholic Church teaches that there is a place where sins are punished and a soul is purified before it can go to Heaven. This is called Purgatory .
Limbo is the nether region where, according to Roman Catholic tradition, unbaptized babies go after death.
Family ties are sacred, and the church has no interest in separating loved ones -- either in life or in death. Nothing in canon law prohibits a non-Catholic from being buried in a Catholic cemetery.
The fate of unbaptized babies has confounded Catholic scholars for centuries. According to church catechisms, or teachings, babies that haven't been splashed with holy water bear the original sin, which makes them ineligible for joining God in heaven.
The interment of stillborn infants in later medieval burial grounds stands at odds with Catholic Church Law, which forbade the inclusion of unbaptised children within consecrated ground. When perinatal remains occur within graveyards, their interpretation can be problematic.
Saint Peter
While the first pope was on the run, he reportedly received a vision to return to Rome and accept his fate to become a martyr. According to accounts written centuries later, Peter asked to be crucified upside down because it would result in a longer, more painful death and not directly emulate Jesus.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church (the official teaching of the Church) teaches that worship (or adoration) is meant for God alone. Catholics as well as the Orthodox and some older Protestant groups venerate Mary and the Saints. Mary is venerated because she is full of God's own life and love, his Grace (Luke 1:28).
Why not pray directly to God? The mother of Jesus Christ and the other saints have no meaning or power independent of God. Catholics and many other Christians venerate the saints as ongoing examples of what a life generously open to God's grace can look like in a great variety of circumstances.
A: As you know the bible does "not" tell us to pray the Rosary because this form of prayer originated only during the middle ages. However, important elements of the Rosary are biblical and/or belong to the common Christian beliefs.
Crossing yourself or someone else is an act of sanctification, a physical reminder that you/they are set apart as holy for Christ. Because it is often done at the mention of the Trinity (“Father, Son, and Holy Spirit”), the sign of the cross is also a physical reminder of belief in the Triune God.