Anything I can do to help…

“Some kind of pain.” Wow.

The pain is not like that of hell, only that of being “so close, yet so far away.” From heaven, that is.
BTW- if it’s not a “place,” then the term “purgatory” should just be replaced with “Final sanctification.” What’s the chance of that?

They could call it “Shangri-La” and it wouldn’t change anything. It is what it is, not a physical place as you and I understand it.
The story I was told was that when the cord holding the hat broke, that cardinal was sprung from purgatory.

Even Catholics love a good yarn, including the ones that don’t necessarily bind with the virtue of faith, including this one.