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However, Blessed Mary and the company of Saints and Martyrs are in heaven. This is certain because it is the very meaning of the term, saint

On another thread it was said RC theology says the period of time in Purgatory can not be determined.That is why the Pope needs prayer after death.Which is correct?

"However, Blessed Mary and the company of Saints and Martyrs are in heaven. This is certain because it is the very meaning of the term, saint"

"On another thread it was said RC theology says the period of time in Purgatory can not be determined.That is why the Pope needs prayer after death.Which is correct?"

They both are correct. Nobody is a saint until they enter Heaven. Not too many people go straight to Heaven after their deaths (The Blessed Mother did, for she was without sin). Prayers for the souls in Purgatory lessen their time in Purgatory. Once they are released from Purgatory, they are accepted into Heaven and become saints.

I would hope most Catholics know that they are due to spend some time in Purgatory, and would appreciate that prayers (both before and after their deaths) be said for them to lessen their corporal punishment.

On another thread it was said RC theology says the period of time in Purgatory can not be determined.That is why the Pope needs prayer after death.Which is correct?

Whoever said the Pope is a saint? Do you just pull this stuff out of thin air? "The tomb: I would like to be in real earth, with a humble marker indicating the place and asking for Christian mercy. No monument for me." (Last will and testmanet of Pope Paul VI)

Every Catholic who dies, who is not in notorious sin, receievs a funeral Mass at which we pray for their soul, that it might be released from Purgatory should they need to go there. And at every Mass, we pray for all who "sleep in Christ" that they might enter into heaven. These prayers only stop when the person is Canonized, which is a declaration that the way they lived their life merited that they should enter directly into heaven without passing through purgatory. So those who are canonized when straight to heaven. Among those who are not, some may have gone straight to heaven (saints), others straight to hell (damned), and others to purgatory (holy souls), for a final cleansing before admittance to heaven.