The announcement in church bulletins and on Web sites has been greeted with enthusiasm by some and wariness by others. But mainly, it has gone over the heads of a vast generation of Roman Catholics who have no idea what it means: \u201cBishop Announces Plenary Indulgences.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
In recent months, dioceses around the world have been offering Catholics a spiritual benefit that fell out of favor decades ago \u201d\u201d the indulgence, a sort of amnesty from punishment in the afterlife \u201d\u201d and reminding them of the church\u2019s clout in mitigating the wages of sin.<\/p>\n
The fact that many Catholics under 50 have never sought one, and never heard of indulgences except in high school European history (Martin Luther denounced the selling of them in 1517 while igniting the Protestant Reformation), simply makes their reintroduction more urgent among church leaders bent on restoring fading traditions of penance in what they see as a self-satisfied world.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy are we bringing it back?\u201d\u009d asked Bishop Nicholas A. DiMarzio of Brooklyn, who has embraced the move. \u201cBecause there is sin in the world.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n