Heaven, Hell, Purgatory, and Limbo

This booklet considers only four topics: Heaven, Hell, Purgatory, and Limbo. For a more comprehensive discussion of salvation, see the full book: Forgiveness and Salvation for Everyone.

This booklet of Roman Catholic salvation theology describes the rewards of Heaven, the purifications of Purgatory, and the punishments of Hell. There are only two final destinations: Heaven and Hell. Heaven is a place of eternal happiness. Hell is a place of eternal punishment. But many souls go to Heaven by way of Purgatory, a place of correction and learning. The punishments of Purgatory and those of Hell are from the Justice and Mercy of God; they are exactly fitting to the sins of each person. Hell is not a place of extreme torture, nor is Purgatory a place of mere suffering.

The term Limbo, meaning "fringe", was originally conceived as a part of another place. There is a limbo or fringe of Purgatory (the limbo of the Fathers) and a limbo or fringe of Hell (where souls suffer the least). Then there is the idea of limbo as a third final destination. This latter version of limbo is a theological construct that has fallen out of favor. In the author's opinion, there is no limbo as a third final destination. All human persons end up either in Heaven or in Hell.

Do most persons go to Heaven, or to Hell? This booklet argues that the majority of human persons attain Heaven as their final destination, though usually through Purgatory. The only persons condemned to Hell those who freely commit a sin, which they themselves fully understand to be gravely immoral, and who refuse to repent through the last moment of life. All other persons will have eternal happiness in Heaven.

The author, Ronald L. Conte Jr., is the translator of the Catholic Public Domain Version of the Bible, and the author of The Catechism of Catholic Ethics and The Writing of the Gospels and Biblical Inerrancy. His other works cover diverse subjects in theology, including Mariology, Biblical chronology, eschatology, and other topics.