[SkyDancer]

One verse: "It's good to pray for the dead" came up with it and all the indulgences to get relatives out of it for monetary gain. Second book of Maccabees has the verse. Paul wrote that to be absent from the body is to be with Christ Jesus in Heaven. No such place as Purgatory. Catholic theology.

In Roman Catholic theology, purgatory is an intermediate state after physical death in which some of those ultimately destined for heaven must first "undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven," holding that "certain offenses can be forgiven in this age, but certain others in the age to come." And that entrance into Heaven requires the "remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven," for which indulgences may be given which remove "either part or all of the temporal punishment due to sin," such as an "unhealthy attachment" to sin

[Cronos]

You wrote In Roman Catholic theology, purgatory is an intermediate state -- as you yourself quoted, it's a state of being, not a place as the Church says. The Church says 'no such place"

[Elsie]

Paul wrote that to be absent from the body is to be with Christ Jesus in Heaven.

No; he did not.

What he wrote is...

 2 Corinthians 5:8
“We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.”

[Elsie]

If what people THINK Paul said was actually true; the phrase that mentions ‘the dead in Christ’, would not have much meaning.