Il-Ħajja Eterna fit-Tagħlim tal-Knisja Kattolika

Abstract

This article presents the teaching of the Catholic Church on eternal life. Eschatology is one of those areas of theology arousing great interest since, among other things, it treats the afterlife. This article offers a synthesis of the contents implied in the twelfth article of the Apostles' Creed: "I believe in life everlasting". While giving an overview of the Church's Magisterium over the ages on topics such as particular judgement, purgatory, heaven and hell, the author gives pride of place to a series of pronouncements by Pope John Paul II in the summer of 1999, the encyclical letter "Spe Salvi" by Pope Benedict XVI (2007) and the important document on Eschatology published by the International Theological Commission in 1992. The article is followed by an excursus on the question of limbo which was never a part of official Catholic doctrine.