[armydoc]

Whatever that is bound on earth will be "approved" of by the powers of heaven, God. It doesn't say that the Church will bind things in heaven, only on earth. You go beyond what the Catholic Church states, so what is your point?

My point is that the Church claims authority over Purgatory- the authority to remit/mitigate/eliminate time/punishment/suffering therin. If the Church has such authority, why can it not empty Purgatory completely (as Luther once asked)? If you are going to use the "power of the Keys" argument for the Church's authority over Purgatory, you have no basis for claiming a limited authority, and the Pope has no excuse for not emptying Purgatory once and for all.

[jo kus]

My point is that the Church claims authority over Purgatory- the authority to remit/mitigate/eliminate time/punishment/suffering therin. If the Church has such authority, why can it not empty Purgatory completely (as Luther once asked)?

Why should the Church empty Purgatory? God has this third state of existence after death for a reason - and the Church will not remove it. Why remove the effects of penance for a person? There is a purpose for being sorry for one's sins. Much can be learned from humbling oneself and burning away the chaff from one's spiritual life. Any remission of punishment is because a person had performed some penitential act. If that doesn't occur, then the conversion to Christ is not complete.

Regards

[Campion]

My point is that the Church claims authority over Purgatory

Her "authority" over purgatory is that of a supplicant, not that of a ruler. The Pope is not a ruler over the Church Suffering in purgatory, only over the Church Militant on earth.

the Pope has no excuse for not emptying Purgatory once and for all.

The only way he could do that is if he had the kind of authority over that he doesn't in fact have.