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Besides various early pastoral assignments, he returned to school at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Accademy. In 1934 Pope Pius XI appointed him Secretary to the Nunciature of Bucharest in Hungary. It was a trying time with the emergence of World War II where he worked in Switzerland and Czechoslovakia. He was transferred to Brussels shortly after the war. In 1947 Pope Pius XII sent him to Prague and eight years later on May 21, 1955 named him titular Archbishop of Sardi while at the same time making him Apostolic Nuncio to Costa Rica. A year later the Holy Father appointed him Apostolic Delegate to Jerusalem until 1962 when Pope John XXIII transferred him to Ireland as Nuncio there. In 1967 Pope Paul VI made him Nuncio to Portugal where he remained until 1976. It was in that year that Paul VI named him a cardinal deacon in the Consistory of May 24, 1976. He was transferred to the order of cardinal priest on June 22, 1987 with the titular church of Queen of the Apostles. He will celebrate his seventieth year as a priest next month at Piazza San Calisto, 16 00153 in Rome where he remains close to the Holy See but inactive in his late autumn years.
Purgatory gives us an assurance that we are still in touch with our beloved dead. We are consoled by the knowledge that we can still help them with prayer, as in life we so helped them.
The doctrine of the existence of Purgatory is not only reasonable, but its negation is eminently contrary to reason; it is taught in Holy Scripture, and has been taught by the Church from the very beginning.
The doctrine of a middle state of purgation is taught in the Old Testament, and was firmly believed in by the Hebrews. After a battle, Judas Machabeus ordered prayers and sacrifices offered up for his slain comrades. "And making a gathering, he sent twelve drachms of silver to Jerusalem for sacrifice to be offered for the sins of the dead, thinking well and religiously concerning the resurrection. For, if he had not hoped that they that were slain should rise again, it would have seemed superfluous and vain to pray for the dead. And because he considered that they who had fallen asleep with godliness had great grace laid for them It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins" (2 Maccabees 12: 43-46).
When Our Lord came on earth, He purified the Jewish Church of all those human changes that with the years had crept into its usages and beliefs. But He never reproved anyone for belief in a middle state of purgation, or prayers for the dead. On the contrary, Christ more than once implied the existence of purgatory. He said: "And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this world, or in the world to come" (Matthew 12:32). When Our Lord said that a sin will not be forgiven in the next life, He left us to conclude that some sins will be thus forgiven. But in the next life, sins cannot be forgiven in Heaven: "There shall not enter into it anything defiled" (Apocalypse/Revelation 21:27). Neither can sins be forgiven in hell, for out of hell there is no redemption. They must therefore be forgiven in a middle state, Purgatory.
Belief in the existence of Purgatory is a continuous and solemn teaching of the Church. From Saint Paul, the early Fathers, the Doctors of the Church, on through the ages, the Church has taught the existence of Purgatory, and the correlated doctrine of the usefulness of praying for the dead.
From the beginning Christians prayed for the dead at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The oldest books used at Mass contain prayers for the dead. The doctrine of Purgatory was given solemn definition by the Council of Trent as follows: "There is a Purgatory, and the souls there detained are assisted by the suffrages of the faithful, but especially by the most acceptable sacrifice of the altar."
This dogmatic definition contains three points of faith that all Catholics are compelled to believe;
Reason demands belief in the existence of Purgatory. If a man dies with some slight sin on his soul, a sin of impatience, or an idle word, is he fit to enter Heaven? God's sanctity forbids it: "There shall not enter into it anything defileld" (Apocalypse/Revelation 21:27). But must such a soul be consigned to hell? God's mercy and justice forbid it.
Therefore reason concludes the existence of a middle and temporary state of expiation, where the soul is cleansed from all stain of sin before it can be admitted into the perfect holiness and bliss of Heaven. "Amen, I say to thee, thou wilt not come out from it until thou hast paid the last penny" (Matthew 5:26).
Among nearly all peoples there has persisted a belief that souls must undergo some sort of purification after death. This would point to the doctrine of Purgatory. Not only is this what Catholics believe, but the Greek story of Prometheus implies a place of purgation. The Egyptians and others believed in the transmigration of souls. Legends and myths of all nations, as well as burial customs, indicate belief in the possibility of helping the dead.
The year before a barbaric horde known as the Huns had overrun the Empire, pillaging and plundering Gaul and moving rapidly from the north through Italy to the gates of Rome. Fearing no man, Leo chose to meet Attila face to face at the gates. Many felt it was suicide and that Rome's fall was a fait accomplis, but Leo knew God would protect him and so he bravely confronted the pagan king at the gates of Rome, pursuading Attila to abandon his plans to sack the city. To everyone's astonishment Attila rounded up his horde and turned away from Rome. It was another in the many encounters down through the centuries where, through the grace of God, a superior force is turned away, evidence David slaying Goliath, the victory at Lepanto, Saint Clare holding aloft the Blessed Sacrament in the monstrance to protect the city, and many more such cases where the power of God was manifested. Leo took very seriously his charge handed down from St. Peter to rule Christ's Church as Christ instructed. Leo knew it was not him who convinced Attila to forego his attempts on Rome, but the miraculous vision God allowed Attila to behold of Saints Peter and Paul standing behind Leo. The "Scourge of God" knew that any power this great was not to be messed with or he would be scourged by God, and so, totally overcome mentally by the vision he had seen, he retreated. It was the end of the threat so feared throughout Europe as the Hun king died two years later while Leo ruled another ten years, 21 in all, receiving his Heavenly reward on September 10, 461. In 1754 St. Leo was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Benedict XIV, honoring this great Pope for his great writings and wisdom at a pivotal time in Church and world history. He had shown great courage and his skills at governing the Church and emphasizing spirituality while juggling the political footballs of his time. His actions strengthened the Vatican's position in the world while bringing the people to a closer understanding of what Jesus meant in His words to Peter in Matthew 16: 18-19, "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give thee the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven; and whatever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven, and whatever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven."
