ABSTRACT
For Catholics, death is a gateway to other abodes, an entry to heaven, hell, or purgatory. The Catholic tradition has always maintained two judgments after death: a particular judgment of the individual soul based on its merits, and a universal, or last judgment, after the dead have been resurrected. Hell is the abode or destination of souls who have rejected, of their own free will, God's love and will suffer eternal punishment. The Church affirms that the main punishment in hell is separation from God, but it is also depicted as an 'unquenchable fire' and as a 'furnace of fire'. In addition to hell, purgatory is a destination for souls that are marked by sin and therefore are not pure enough to enter heaven upon their separation from the body at the time of death. In the Baltimore Catechism, which was widely used by English-speaking Catholics and derived from the Roman Catechism, limbo is mentioned by name.
