(1)The souls in purgatory ARE freed from sin. Honestly, read Dante.
Of more authority Aquinas taught that souls in Purgatory cannot sin. But Rm 6 is not simply about not sinning, but overcoming its draw, yet this was only one reference to this world and life being the place of testing of character and practical sanctification, which multitude texts show, versus the next.
Dante presents Purgatory as joyful!
How much authority is he (honestly)? Augustine (Enarration on Psalm 37, no. 3) speaks of the pain which purgatorial fire causes as more severe than anything a man can suffer in this life. Likewise Gregory the Great states "that the pain be more intolerable than any one can suffer in this life" CE on Purgatory.http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12575a.htm
(2) The other vibe, that a lot of Catholics get wrong too, is the persistent idea of a top down, legislative or executive Vatican and a set of faith and morals teachings laid out like the income tax code.
A valid observation i would say, especially when seeking to contrast Rome with us that is, and is what i was referring to.
I was just checking the Catholic Encyclopedia on Semi-Pelagianism and was struck once again how it’s not like that at ALL.
And you heard of the war about predestination. But then you have the fierce sedevacantists.
I think a lot of non-Catholics have the idea that everything can be derived from the Scriptures.
You think rightly. But insofar as faith and morals it must be, yet not simply formally but materially which provides for reason, and the magisterium, etc. The key thing in SS is that Scripture remains the supreme infallible authority, out of which doctrine comes, as explicitly declared as well as warranted by a confluence of texts, and all truth claims are tested by.
Look. Please. Trust me on this if on nothing else.
Get the Sayers Comedy There's another fabulous translation, by Esolen (sp?) but it's rare. I have Paradiso and Purgatorio but the last time I looked Inferno cost over $100. Too rich for my blood.
You have the exuberance of the late Gothic age, with the rediscovery of Greek learning. Dante is careful to get all the astronomical details right.
But even in translation the joy of Purgatory and the luminosity of Heaven are clear.
I don't know if it's still available, but there is a Sinclair edition with Italian and English on facing pages.
Sayers knew her work was being set adrift in a culture largely ignorant of, well, of a great deal. So her notes and introductory essays are very fine introductions to the high Gothic mind-set.
My aunt, Barbara Reynolds did most of the Paradiso, because Sayers was dying. And she did not have Sayers's gifts. But it's still good.
You are obviously of a scholarly temperament. I promise you, you will thank me for urging this. I don't see how anyone can claim to be an educated man and not have read the Commedia. It is a great work. The figure of Beatrice ( do NOT think BEE-triss,think BAY-ah-TREE-chay ) is compelling.