*LOL Yeah, you do. You are wrong.
We don't need a Church Council to explain, JESUS explained it,
*No. He didn't.
If we have piled tradition atop tradition in order to try and explain something which is more simply explained and understood, well, that is our right as creative people.
*Tradition is not the process of our creative intellects.
As for me, the simplest explanation that fits the facts is the best explanation, and we should not multiply entities when we need not. Jewish "Gehenna" expresses perfectly the concept that Jesus seems to have been driving at.
*Not me. So, are you satisfied satisfying yourself?
I am not interested in opposing an Ecumenical Council or the Cathechism of the Catholic Church. I am merely pointed out what Jesus actually SAID, and suggesting that this ought to be the basis for cutting through the fog of misunderstanding on the issue. Purgatory is correct doctrine: it's Gehenna. Hell is correct doctrine: it's Gehenna. Why complicate this?
*Why conflate Purgatory and Hell?
Now, I asked you for a reference from a few sources. Do you have them or not.
*Me too.
INNOCENT IV 1243-1254
"Sub Catholicae" to the Bishop of Tusculum,....
23. Finally, since Truth in the Gospel asserts that "if anyone shall utter blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, neither in this life nor in the future will it be forgiven him" [cf. Matt. 12:32], by this it is granted that certain sins of the present be understood which, however, are forgiven in the future life, and since the Apostle says that "fire will test the work of each one, of what kind it is," and " if any man's work burn, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire" [ 1 Cor 3:13,15], and since these same Greeks truly and undoubtedly are said to believe and to affirm that the souls of those who after a penance has been received yet not performed, or who, without mortal sin yet die with venial and slight sin, can be cleansed after death and can be helped by the suffrages of the Church, we, since they say a place of purgation of this kind has not been indicated to them with a certain and proper name by their teachers, we indeed, calling it purgatory according to the traditions and authority of the Holy Fathers, wish that in the future it be called by that name in their area. For in that transitory fire certainly sins, though not criminal or capital, which before have not been remitted through penance but were small and minor sins, are cleansed, and these weigh heavily even after death, if they have been forgiven in this life.
*Huh. Imagine that. The Church's Teaching IS more understandable than yours. And, it has the advantage of being authoritative...
One example, from www.jewfaq.org, is below.
Really, look into any Jewish source you like, and you will find Gehenna, the Jewish Purgatory. This is not deeply esoteric or secret knowledge.
Can I cite you a council of the Church that said this?
Of course not.
The Church hasn't paid attention to Jews on matters of theology since, oh, about the First Century.
Which is a pity, because some of the things that Jesus said become a whole lot clearer when seen through Jewish eyes.
From www.jewfaq.org:
Gan Eden and Gehinnom
The place of spiritual reward for the righteous is often referred to in Hebrew as Gan Eden (GAHN ehy-DEHN) (the Garden of Eden). This is not the same place where Adam and Eve were; it is a place of spiritual perfection. Specific descriptions of it vary widely from one source to another. One source says that the peace that one feels when one experiences Shabbat properly is merely one-sixtieth of the pleasure of the afterlife. Other sources compare the bliss of the afterlife to the joy of sex or the warmth of a sunny day. Ultimately, though, the living can no more understand the nature of this place than the blind can understand color.
Only the very righteous go directly to Gan Eden. The average person descends to a place of punishment and/or purification, generally referred to as Gehinnom (guh-hee-NOHM) (in Yiddish, Gehenna), but sometimes as She'ol or by other names. According to one mystical view, every sin we commit creates an angel of destruction (a demon), and after we die we are punished by the very demons that we created. Some views see Gehinnom as one of severe punishment, a bit like the Christian Hell of fire and brimstone. Other sources merely see it as a time when we can see the actions of our lives objectively, see the harm that we have done and the opportunities we missed, and experience remorse for our actions. The period of time in Gehinnom does not exceed 12 months, and then ascends to take his place on Olam Ha-Ba.
Only the utterly wicked do not ascend at the end of this period; their souls are punished for the entire 12 months. Sources differ on what happens at the end of those 12 months: some say that the wicked soul is utterly destroyed and ceases to exist while others say that the soul continues to exist in a state of consciousness of remorse.
This 12-month limit is repeated in many places in the Talmud, and it is connected to the mourning cycles and the recitation of Kaddish. See Life, Death and Mourning.