Limbo Passes Away

Though it's been awhile since I read it, my favorite by far of Dante's The Divine Comedy is Purgatory. The Inferno is too dark and scary; Paradise kind of boring—more a rote performance of what's to be expected. But Purgatory charms: it delights in things non-Christian folded into some vague mezzo-sphere of the Christian cosmology. To my way of thinking Purgatory is a practical necessity if Christianity wishes to recognize the messiness of non-Christian experiences. Thus it is a pity and a loss that the Pope has decided to officially erase Limbo, a related place that doesn't exist, in order to rationalize and homogenize his vision of what the world should be. I fear that Purgatory may be next on his list.