What happens when a person dies according to the catholic catechism?
Roman Catholic beliefs: The church teaches that when a person dies, their body starts its process of decomposition. Meanwhile, the soul leaves the body and is immediately evaluated in a Particular Judgment. 1This belief is partly based on Hebrews 9:27: “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” (KJV).
A person is immediately judged by God as either saved or not saved. Those who are not saved will spend eternity in hell. Those who are saved will spend eternity in heaven. Those who are saved but carrying a load of spiritual baggage will be cleansed in purgatory before entering into their eternal reward, since the Bible tells us “nothing unclean may come into God’s presence”. This Christian doctrine is opposed to the Protestant doctrine that our sins are “covered over” like “dung hills covered with snow” and we are smuggled into heaven while we are still unclean.
