Roman Catholics: Indulgences Made Easy

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At the fourth session of the Second Vatican Council, a number of bishops and theologians suggested that it was high time to reform or even abolish the church's ancient system of indulgences. For performing certain pious acts, such as visiting churches or reciting prayers, penitent Catholics can get dispensations for part or all of the time that they would otherwise have to spend in Purgatory suffering for their sins.

Pope Paul, however, is not yet ready to give up this particular Catholic tradition—and last week he made one kind of indulgence easier than ever to get. In honor of the Vatican Council, the first five months of 1966 will be a "Jubilee period." Traditionally, Jubilee years are celebrated every quarter of a century or so. During them, plenary indulgences, erasing all the temporal punishment due for sins, have been available only to pilgrims who visited Rome and its four major basilicas. Even though travel to the Eternal City is faster and cheaper than ever before, the Vatican has now extended the Jubilee indulgences so that Catholics can obtain them at home, by attending designated churches in their dioceses where services are held featuring instruction on the reforming spirit of Vatican II.