You might be asking yourself, though, "Just how many people ARE there in Purgatory?" Well, I shall give you an example of how many people there could easily be in Purgatory.

It is estimated that every hour 7500 people die around the world. Every day the lives of about 180,000 people come to an end, and they are judged by God for all eternity. So each year over 65 million die. This does not take into consideration large numbers of people who die because of some disaster - like a tidal wave or a hurricane.

How many of those 66 million people go to Purgatory every year? We don’t know for sure. We do know that most people tragically lose their soul. Even Our Lord Himself warns us:

“Enter in (to eternity) at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction (eternal death - hell), and many there are who go in there.  How narrow is the gate, and difficult is the way that leads to life (Heaven): and few there are that find it!” (St. Matthew 7:13-14)

and again

“And a certain man said to him: Lord, are they few that are saved? But He said to them: Strive to enter (Heaven) by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able.” (St. Luke 13:23-24)

So, we do not know for sure how many people go to Purgatory when they die, but let us generously guess that for every 10 people that die, 2 go to Purgatory. That is 20%. According to our estimate then, over 13 million people go to Purgatory every year. In ten years that would be around 130 million, and after one century (100 years), more than 1 billion 300 million souls would enter Purgatory. If one mortal sin requires about 7 years in Purgatory to repair (on average) most human beings would easily be required to spend hundreds of years - and more - to make the reparation necessary for all the damage their sins had caused. The point is that most Poor Souls are not released quickly. Without our help, the population of Purgatory would just keep getting larger and larger.

Well, then, roughly 6,500,000 people are added to Purgatory each year (according to our generous argument.) Could not many of these be easily released from Purgatory if people were praying, sacrificing and offering up good works for them? Actually, yes, but sadly, there is probably only a handful of people praying for them these days. Many people mistakenly are led to believe that those who die just go straight to Heaven, for they were too "nice" to go to Purgatory. But even the smallest stains are purged from us before we can enter Heaven.

So, either we don’t think we need to pray for them, or we forget to. Here’s the scary reality. Purgatory is far from empty. As people neglect to pray for those in Purgatory, the number of souls left to satisfy the full debt of their sins, becomes bigger and bigger. As explained in "Time and Duration", it takes 7 years to repay the damage done by one mortal sin. Many souls are in Purgatory for centuries! Souls in need of prayer have piled up, so to speak, to an astonishing amount. There are souls in Purgatory at this very moment that have been there before America was discovered, and even longer!

When the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to the children at Fatima, Portugal in 1917, she was asked about the eternal destiny of two local girls who had died recently. Our Lady replied that one of the girls was in Heaven but that the other girl deserved to go to hell. Because prayers were offered to Our Lady on behalf of the second girl, the Mother of God was able to obtain mercy from Her Son and her soul was spared eternal pain and misery in hell. But, the Queen of Heaven and Earth added, “she will be in Purgatory until the end of time!” What sins could this girl have committed in the simple, rural surroundings of this little Portuguese village? We do not know, but we know the girl was going to hell. Only Our Mother, Mary, could have moved Her Son, Jesus, to grant the mercy the poor sinner needed to be forgiven. But the point is that this girl has been in Purgatory for almost 100 years and will remain there until the end of the world!

So don’t worry about your prayers or good works being wasted. There are plenty of souls to benefit from your charity. And even if Purgatory was empty, which unfortunately it isn’t, prayers are never wasted - not with God in charge. Remember, He’s the one who took the five loaves and two fishes and fed over 5,000 people with much left over! Give Him the best you can, and He will do wonders!

Be sure to read "How to Avoid Purgatory" to learn how you can avoid going to Purgatory when you die. If, sadly, you need to finish repairing the damage caused by your sins after you die, you will also learn what you can do in this life to obtain help when you get to Purgatory so that your sufferings will be less and your time in Purgatory shortened.