Ackshullay, everyone who goes to Purgatory eventually will get to Heaven. They did not commit any mortal sins during life that would send them straight to Hell, and just have to work off the venal sins they committed before going to Heaven. Dante characterized Purgatory as a mountain, where you start at the level of your worst venal sin, and you have to do whatever punishment on that level for an amount of time that purifies you of that sin, then you go up to the level of the next worse sin and do that for however long. You continue climbing the mountain until you reach the top, called Earthly Paradise, where the river Lethe runs. You drink from the river Lethe and forget about all that punishment, then go through a ring of fire that further purifies you, THEN you get to go to the level of Heaven that your greatest deed has made you eligible for.
Sooo, really Purgatory doesn’t really work any better than limbo would. Really, no place in the afterlife as conceived by the old Church would really be appropriate for the meme.
For just a bit more pedantry…
Ackshullay, everyone who goes to Purgatory eventually will get to Heaven. They did not commit any mortal sins during life that would send them straight to Hell, and just have to work off the venal sins they committed before going to Heaven. Dante characterized Purgatory as a mountain, where you start at the level of your worst venal sin, and you have to do whatever punishment on that level for an amount of time that purifies you of that sin, then you go up to the level of the next worse sin and do that for however long. You continue climbing the mountain until you reach the top, called Earthly Paradise, where the river Lethe runs. You drink from the river Lethe and forget about all that punishment, then go through a ring of fire that further purifies you, THEN you get to go to the level of Heaven that your greatest deed has made you eligible for.
Sooo, really Purgatory doesn’t really work any better than limbo would. Really, no place in the afterlife as conceived by the old Church would really be appropriate for the meme.
Here’s an overview of Dante’s conception of the universe.
Here are the levels of Purgatory