Topic summary
Church penitent
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Churches Militant, Penitent, and Triumphant.
Penitent
The term penitent (Latin: poenitens or paenitens) means "repenting, being sorry". Those who constitute the Church Penitent are in Purgatory to satisfy whatever portion of the temporal punishment due for their sins was not satisfied before death. They are in a process of purging their imperfections before entering heaven. It is held that all members of the Church Penitent will eventually join the Church Triumphant.