St. Gregory: "There is a purgatorial fire"

“IT IS to be believed that before the judgment there is a purgatorial fire for certain minor sins. For the Truth says that if anyone blasphemes against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this world or in the next. From which we learn that certain sins may be forgiven in this world and certain in the next… the apostle (1 Cor. 3:12) holds out the possibility of being saved by fire, not to him who builds on the foundation iron, brass, or lead, that is, the greater and harder sins that are no longer remissible in purgatory, but to the builder of wood, hay, and stubble, that is, the least and lightest sins, which the fire easily consumes. We must know, however, that a man will not be cleansed in purgatory of even the least sins, unless during his lifetime he deserved by his good works to receive such a favor.”

~Pope St. Gregory I (c. 540 - 604):  Dialogue, 4, 39.

St. Gregory, by Francisco De Goya y Lucientes.
Oil on canvas, c. 1797; Museo Romántico, Madrid.