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Which papal teaching about the souls of the saved did William of Ockham oppose?
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William of Ockham
English theologian and philosopher William of Ockham, detail from a stained-glass window, c. 1985; in All Saints' Church, Ockham, Surrey, England.
William of Ockham opposed the teaching of Pope John XXII, who proposed that the souls of the saved do not experience the Beatific Visionâthe direct knowledge of Godâimmediately after death.12
Instead, John XXII argued that this experience would be delayed until the souls were reunited with their bodies at the Last Judgment. Ockham viewed this position as a contradiction of church tradition and used it as evidence to label John XXII a heretic who had forfeited his papal mandate.12