I don't know. My Catholic aunt has always maintained that her loved ones, including my atheist father and agnostic mother are in heaven. A few nights after my father's death, she called my mom in the middle of the night with the good news that my dad had visited her in a dream, and proclaimed that he has been wrong. My poor, mourning, sleep deprived mother, was less than thrilled to be awakened by such a silly phone call.
Catholics are a diverse bunch. My grandma had hidden cards with saints on them, scattered throughout her drawers and bags and tucked away in odd places. She went to church on holidays, and probably had me secretly baptized as a child because she was scandalized that my parents hadn't baptized me. But she didn't see a list of rules that she was expected to follow, and scoffed at the church hierarchy. My aunt literally believes that her mom is in heaven cooking up holiday feasts for loved ones. In Latin America, courtyards are watched over by statues of the Virgin Mary, which are worshiped like idols. My 84 year old neighbor does the rosary when her friends or family are in the hospital, and whether the friends or loved ones are Jewish or agnostic or some other brand of Christianity, and she manages to dig up all of the Jesus quotes about charity and love and whatnot. She clearly believes that her god rewards all good people. My daughter's bus stop is near a church, and early morning dog walkers cross themselves as they walk by the church.
So there are lots of rituals that different Catholics like to participate in. But I really don't think I have ever heard a Catholic who says that an evangelical isn't going to heaven for failure to engage in said rituals. (Evangelicals often say that Catholics are going to hell.) And oddly, I rarely hear Catholics express concerns about their immortal souls, or the immortal souls of loved ones, who engage in premarital sex or who didn't get last rites immediately before death.
They like their rituals. But it seems like failure to engage in the rituals, or follow the rules of the church, or even really believe in god, are not necessarily obstacles to a happy afterlife.
