The Roman Catholic Church is bringing back Plenary Indulgences — a sort-of Get Out of Hell Free card from a priest. “Why are we bringing it back?” offered Bishop Nicholas A. DiMarzio of Brooklyn, N.Y., who supports indulgences. “Because there is sin in the world.” Indulgences were dropped by the church in the 1960s after the Second Vatican Council. Church doctrine notes that even after a priest offers absolution after confession, sinners still face punishment after death. Indulgences supposedly cancel the punishment in purgatory. They cannot be purchased — the church outlawed that in 1567 — but a contribution greases the wheels. A parishioner must confess to get one, and there is a limit of one per sinner per day. “It was always there,” Bishop DiMarzio says. “We just want people to return to the ideas they used to know.”
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New York Times