Oh ignorant, self-seeking cupidity which spurs us so in the short mortal life and steeps us so through all eternity!

Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy

In current Catholic dogma, [purgatory] is a state of being rather than an actual realm between Hell and Heaven: an inner fire in the conscience of sinners that refines their impurities.

Judith Thurman, Reading Dante’s Purgatory While the World Hangs in the Balance, The New Yorker (September 13, 2021)