Confusion about the afterlife

[tower_of_babel]

Hello, I am struggling to get my head around catholic teaching on the afterlife. I’ve never had it clearly stated in any sermons or my catholic school education.
Is there no afterlife until the return of Christ? If so, why do we pray to empty purgatory? Can people go there before judgement day?

Thanks:

 

[Bookcat]

Yes there is “afterlife” prior to the Return of Christ.

Be it purgatory and then heaven.

Or for those quite ready - Heaven.

Then after the return there is the Resurrection of the body (we receive our Glorified body) and the new heavens and the new earth…

 

[Bookcat]

Catechism

scborromeo.org/ccc/p123a12.htm

 

[TK421]

Hello, I am struggling to get my head around catholic teaching on the afterlife. I’ve never had it clearly stated in any sermons or my catholic school education.
Is there no afterlife until the return of Christ? If so, why do we pray to empty purgatory? Can people go there before judgement day?

Thanks:

People’s souls immediately go to Heaven/purgatory or hell when they die. Praying for the dead is a spiritual act of mercy and God wills for us to be co-workers with Him in every stage of life: the creation of new life, the spiritual formation of souls, the caring for the vulnerable or sick, and eventually, the proper treatment of the expired body and the soul’s entrance into Heaven.

There is a final judgment. This will be significant to those in the hereafter because the part of mankind that is damned will be reunited with their earthly bodies and the demons will no longer be able to transverse hell and earth, existing in both places. The elect will be united with their glorified bodies and the angels’ war against the demons (which continues as we speak) will be ended. These events will bring celebration in Heaven and additional outrage in hell.