On All Souls’ Day, the Catholic Church remembers all those who have died and prays for them in a particular way. But why do Catholics pray for the souls of the dead — not only on Nov. 2 but also on ...

One plenary indulgence — remission of all temporal punishment due to sin — per day is a tremendous gift of the Church, but two in one day is an enormously rare exception granted for this Holy Jubilee ...

It's mid-November. Have you prayed for the Church Suffering yet? Sure, All Souls' Day was back on the second. But the Church dedicates this whole month to the holy souls in purgatory — and urges us to ...

Carl Trueman accuses Joseph Bottum of arguing that purgatory must be true because the thought of it makes our lives happier and more hopeful (Letters, Nov. 11). That would be a fallacy, but Mr. Bottum ...

It’s odd that Joseph Bottum’s “Three Cheers for Purgatory” (Houses of Worship, Nov. 7) makes no reference to the connection that emerged in the medieval period between purgatory and the penitential ...

It sounds too good to be true. Now, for a limited time — the year of St. Paul, to be specific, which ends in June — say a prayer, pop by a designated church and qualify for an indulgence that deducts ...