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Pope Francis offers reduced time in Purgatory for Catholics that follow him

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Christian40
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« on: July 18, 2013, 02:33:40 am »

Court in charge of forgiveness of sins says those that follow upcoming event via social media will be granted indulgences.

"Salvation – or at least a shorter stay in Purgatory – might now be only a tweet away with news that Pope Francis is to offer “indulgences” – remissions for temporary punishment – to the faithful who follow him on the social media site.

Around 1.5 million are expected to flock to Rio de Janeiro to celebrate World Youth Day with the Argentine pontiff later this month. But for those who can’t make it to Brazil,  forgiveness may be available to contrite sinners who follow Francis’s progress via their TV screen or social networks.

The Sacred Apostolic Penitentiary, the Vatican court that rules on the forgiveness of sins, has said that indulgences may be given to those who follow the “rites and pious exercises” of the event on television, radio and through social media.

The Penitentiary said that Pope Francis' Twitter account, which has already gathered seven million followers, would be one such medium.

Vatican officials, noted however, that to obtain indulgences over the internet or otherwise, believers would first have to confess their sins, offer prayers and attend Mass.

“You can't obtain indulgences like getting a coffee from a vending machine,” Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, head of the pontifical council for social communication, told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/one-hell-of-a-deal-pope-francis-offers-reduced-time-in-purgatory-for-catholics-that-follow-him-on-twitter-8713666.html
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« Reply #1 on: July 18, 2013, 04:49:27 am »

i thought i had these posted here  Huh



For Catholics, a Door to Absolution Is Reopened

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: “Bishop Announces Plenary Indulgences.”

In recent months, dioceses around the world have been offering Catholics a spiritual benefit that fell out of favor decades ago — the indulgence, a sort of amnesty from punishment in the afterlife — and reminding them of the church’s clout in mitigating the wages of sin.

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.

“Why are we bringing it back?” asked Bishop Nicholas A. DiMarzio of Brooklyn, who has embraced the move. “Because there is sin in the world.”

Like the Latin Mass and meatless Fridays, the indulgence was one of the traditions decoupled from mainstream Catholic practice in the 1960s by the Second Vatican Council, the gathering of bishops that set a new tone of simplicity and informality for the church. Its revival has been viewed as part of a conservative resurgence that has brought some quiet changes and some highly controversial ones, like Pope Benedict XVI’s recent decision to lift the excommunications of four schismatic bishops who reject the council’s reforms.

The indulgence is among the less noticed and less disputed traditions to be restored. But with a thousand-year history and volumes of church law devoted to its intricacies, it is one of the most complicated to explain.

According to church teaching, even after sinners are absolved in the confessional and say their Our Fathers or Hail Marys as penance, they still face punishment after death, in Purgatory, before they can enter heaven. In exchange for certain prayers, devotions or pilgrimages in special years, a Catholic can receive an indulgence, which reduces or erases that punishment instantly, with no formal ceremony or sacrament.

There are partial indulgences, which reduce purgatorial time by a certain number of days or years, and plenary indulgences, which eliminate all of it, until another sin is committed. You can get one for yourself, or for someone who is dead. You cannot buy one — the church outlawed the sale of indulgences in 1567 — but charitable contributions, combined with other acts, can help you earn one. There is a limit of one plenary indulgence per sinner per day.

It has no currency in the bad place.

“It’s what?” asked Marta de Alvarado, 34, when told that indulgences were available this year at several churches in New York City. “I just don’t know anything about it,” she said, leaving St. Patrick’s Cathedral at lunchtime. “I’m going to look into it, though.”

The return of indulgences began with Pope John Paul II, who authorized bishops to offer them in 2000 as part of the celebration of the church’s third millennium. But the offers have increased markedly under his successor, Pope Benedict, who has made plenary indulgences part of church anniversary celebrations nine times in the last three years. The current offer is tied to the yearlong celebration of St. Paul, which continues through June.

Dioceses in the United States have responded with varying degrees of enthusiasm. This year’s offer has been energetically promoted in places like Washington, Pittsburgh, Portland, Ore., and Tulsa, Okla. It appeared prominently on the Web site of the Diocese of Brooklyn, which announced that any Catholic could receive an indulgence at any of six churches on any day, or at dozens more on specific days, by fulfilling the basic requirements: going to confession, receiving holy communion, saying a prayer for the pope and achieving “complete detachment from any inclination to sin.”

But in the adjacent Archdiocese of New York, indulgences are available at only one church, and the archdiocesan Web site makes no mention of them. (Cardinal Edward M. Egan “encourages all people to receive the blessings of indulgences,” said his spokesman, Joseph Zwilling, who said he was unaware that the offer was not on the Web site, but would soon have it posted.)

The indulgences, experts said, tend to be advertised more openly in dioceses where the bishop is more traditionalist, or in places with fewer tensions between liberal and conservative Catholics.

“In our diocese, folks are just glad for any opportunity to do something Catholic,” said Mary Woodward, director of evangelization for the Diocese of Jackson, Miss., where only 3 percent of the population is Catholic.

Even some priests admit that the rules are hard to grasp.

“It’s not that easy to explain to people who have never heard of it,” said the Rev. Gilbert Martinez, pastor of St. Paul the Apostle Church in Manhattan, the designated site in the New York Archdiocese for obtaining indulgences. “But it was interesting: I had a number of people come in and say, ‘Father, I haven’t been to confession in 20 years, but this’ ” — the availability of an indulgence — “ ‘made me think maybe it wasn’t too late.’ ”

Getting Catholics back into confession, in fact, was one of the motivations for reintroducing the indulgence. In a 2001 speech, Pope John Paul described the newly reborn tradition as “a happy incentive” for confession.

“Confessions have been down for years and the church is very worried about it,” said the Rev. Tom Reese, a Jesuit and former editor of the Catholic magazine America. In a secularized culture of pop psychology and self-help, he said, “the church wants the idea of personal sin back in the equation. Indulgences are a way of reminding people of the importance of penance.”

“The good news is we’re not selling them anymore,” he added.

To remain in good standing, Catholics are required to confess their sins at least once a year. But in a survey last year by a research group at Georgetown University, three-quarters of Catholics said they went to confession less often or not at all.

Under the rules in the “Manual of Indulgences,” published by the Vatican, confession is a prerequisite for getting an indulgence.

Among liberal Catholic theologians, the return of the indulgence seems to be more of a curiosity than a cause for alarm. “Personally, I think we’re beyond the time when indulgences mean very much,” said the Rev. Richard P. McBrien, a professor of theology at Notre Dame who supports the ordination of women and the right of priests to marry. “It’s like trying to put the toothpaste back in the tube of original thought. Most Catholics in this country, if you tell them they can get a plenary indulgence, will shrug their shoulders.”

One recent afternoon outside Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Church in Forest Hills, Queens, two church volunteers disagreed on the relevance of indulgences for modern Catholics.

Octavia Andrade, 64, laughed as she recalled a time when children would race through the rosary repeatedly to get as many indulgences as they could — usually in increments of 5 or 10 years — “as if we needed them, then.”

Still, she supports their reintroduction. “Anything old coming back, I’m in favor of it,” she said. “More fervor is a good thing.”

Karen Nassauer, 61, said she was baffled by the return to a practice she never quite understood to begin with.

“I mean, I’m not saying it is necessarily wrong,” she said. “What does it mean to get time off in Purgatory? What is five years in terms of eternity?”

The latest offers de-emphasize the years-in-Purgatory formulations of old in favor of a less specific accounting, with more focus on ways in which people can help themselves — and one another — come to terms with sin.

“It’s more about praying for the benefit of others, doing good deeds, acts of charity,” said the Rev. Kieran Harrington, spokesman for the Brooklyn diocese.

After Catholics, the people most expert on the topic are probably Lutherans, whose church was born from the schism over indulgences and whose leaders have met regularly with Vatican officials since the 1960s in an effort to mend their differences.

“It has been something of a mystery to us as to why now,” said the Rev. Dr. Michael Root, dean of the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in Columbia, S.C., who has participated in those meetings. The renewal of indulgences, he said, has “not advanced” the dialogue.

“Our main problem has always been the question of quantifying God’s blessing,” Dr. Root said. Lutherans believe that divine forgiveness is a given, but not something people can influence.

But for Catholic leaders, most prominently the pope, the focus in recent years has been less on what Catholics have in common with other religious groups than on what sets them apart — including the half-forgotten mystery of the indulgence.

“It faded away with a lot of things in the church,” said Bishop DiMarzio. “But it was never given up. It was always there. We just want to people to return to the ideas they used to know.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/10/nyregion/10indulgence.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&ref=us

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« Reply #2 on: July 18, 2013, 04:50:18 am »

Plenary Indulgences? Really?
02.10.09 | Comment?


The Catholic Church has decided to bring back one if its most baffling and unneccesary traditions.

A handy definition: “An indulgence is the extra-sacramental remission of the temporal punishment due, in God’s justice, to sin that has been forgiven, which remission is granted by the Church in the exercise of the power of the keys, through the application of the superabundant merits of Christ and of the saints, and for some just and reasonable motive.”

In a nutshell, the Church gets to hand out get out of purgatory free cards to certain parishioners. Or at least offer reduced sentences. It’s a bit obscure and the logic of trotting this old chestnut out in this day and age escapes me. The Jesuit priest in the New York Times article does note that the new emphasis will be on a personal accountability and individual reconciliation of sin. At least the Catholic Church is no longer putting them up for sale, since the last time that happened somebody got really mad and nailed a letter to a door.

Part of my own Catholic education and upbringing included philosophical justifications for rules and theological points that non-Catholics see as anachronistic and pointless (if not blasphemous and/or idolatrous). I can see indulgences occupying the same somewhat metaphorical role as acts of contrition or papal infallibility. I can’t really see anyone running to church because they can now guarantee a reduced sentence in the limbo of purgatory. It makes the church seem like a divinely authorized district attorney, looking to cut a deal.

But I also think that it represents a puzzling attempt to shore up the importance of the church in the everyday lives of parishioners that feels both excessive and unnecessary. Only the oldest of the old school members of the church would be able to remember the practice from the time before Vatican II streamlined Catholic practice and made it more accessible to the modern world, by moving towards masses conducting in the local dialect instead of Latin, for example.

Vatican II was not without controversy, but reinstating the church as a further intermediary between the individual and the deity seems likely to flounder in more spiritually adventurous and secular cultures like America’s. It is also as difficult to explain to outsiders as it is to grasp for insiders. I just don’t see the point in resurrecting this old theological chestnut.

http://semanticdrift.com/religion/plenary-indulgences-really/
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« Reply #3 on: July 18, 2013, 04:50:39 am »

get-out-of-purgatory-free offer (too many available jokes)
Making a trip to a shrine famous for offering false hope will buy you time out of purgatory, the waiting room of the not-quite-faithful enough:


Pilgrims to the shrine in south-west France will receive "plenary indulgences" from the Pontiff, which the Church says reduce the time spent being "washed" of sin after death. The indulgences will be available from this weekend until Dec 8, 2008.

The Church teaches that people who do not go directly to heaven must spend time in purgatory, where they can be purified of residual sin.

It is the latest initiative to get more pilgrims to the shrine, famous for the reported healing properties of its water. In August the Vatican opened an airline service offering pilgrims direct flights from Rome to Lourdes.

That last bit is particularly entertaining because of the rich history of the abuse of plenary indulgences - where the wealthy were allowed to buy their way into heaven - which led, in part, to the Reformation.

This, of course, is entirely different: you now also get frequent flier miles.

Please note that purgatory is slightly different from limbo - one being an invention of the church and the other one being.. uhmm.. something else. Limbo is where unbaptised babies hang out, denied from ever entering heaven because of original sin - that is, until the Pope changes his mind and gets infallible on yo' ass by reversing several hundred years of doctrine.

http://rhetoricallyspeaking.blogspot.com/2007/12/get-out-of-purgatory-free-offer-too.html
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« Reply #4 on: July 18, 2013, 04:56:25 am »

Purgatory: Gold Mine of the Priesthood


Much confusion exists among Protestants regarding the Roman Catholic teaching of purgatory, largely because Rome is careful not to discuss it too openly where a Protestant might hear.

Yet among Catholic people, the doctrine is a central item in the religion of fear that makes them slaves to their priests and pope.

As with other teachings of a mystery religion, teachings on purgatory are somewhat confusing. First, Catholics are taught that there are two kinds of sins: mortal and venial. The mortal sins can send them to hell, and the venial sins are easily forgiven. Then, they are told that mortal sin can have two kinds of punishment: eternal (in hell) and temporal (in purgatory).

Even if the priest forgives all mortal sins in confession, and death follows quickly before the Catholic can sin any more, unless the Catholic has performed enough good works and given enough money to his church, he must still go to purgatory for "temporal" punishment. For the Catholic, Christ's sacrifice was not enough.

If you are confused that is normal. The effect is to keep Catholics from ever knowing for sure when they or their loved ones will be free from purgatory, thus insuring the continued flow of cash to the priest to say more masses to release loved ones from the flames!

"The doctrine of purgatory rests on the assumption that while God forgives sin, His justice nevertheless demands that the sinner must suffer the full punishment due to him for his sin before he will be allowed to enter heaven." (Boettner, Roman Catholicism, P. 219)

The belief in a place of purification by fire before entering heaven did not begin with Roman Catholicism. It has its roots far back in the ancient mystery religions that gave rise to the Catholicism of today. The Egyptians, Greeks, Romans and others believed it.

As Boettner points out in his classic, Roman Catholicism, "In the writings of Augustine (died, 430 A.D.) the doctrine of purgatory was first given definite form…

"It was, however, not until the sixth century that it received formal shape at the hands of Gregory the Great, who held the papal office from 590 to 604 A.D. The invisible world was divided into heaven, hell, and purgatory, with the imagination attempting to portray as vividly as possible the topography and experiences of each region. The doctrine was proclaimed an article of faith in 1438, by the Council of Florence, and was later confirmed by the Council of Trent, in 1548. But does any intelligent person believe that if such a place as purgatory is described in the Bible that it would have taken the church fathers 600 years to discover it, and another 1000 years to confirm it?"

Roman Theologians teach that the pain of purgatory is greater than any suffering possible in this human body, sometimes lasting for centuries. Interestingly, the pope is believed to have special authority over purgatory, so that he can grant special "indulgences" which are supposed to get people out of purgatory sooner if they perform certain acts or give certain gifts to the Roman church.

However, once he dies, the poor pope is just a helpless victim of the flames like anyone else, dependent upon the prayers and sacrifices of the living to shorten his suffering. What a system!

Roman Catholics must live in constant fear of death. They cannot know the sweet peace with which a Christian faces death, for they see death as a doorway to the flames, no matter how good a Catholic they have been.

More and more cash is extorted from bereaved family members who must pay to have more prayers and masses said, they cannot sleep thinking of the torment of their loved ones.

Even then, the priest cannot ever say when it is enough! The cry is always for just a few more masses. No wonder purgatory has been called the "gold mine of the priesthood!"

How sweet were the words of Jesus as he looked at the repentant thief on the adjacent cross and said, "Today shalt thou be with me in Paradise" (Luke 23:43).

Nearly one billion precious people have been fed the lie, that there is no sure way to escape the flames of God's wrath. Will you tell them the truth?

Purgatory
Catholicism teaches that after death, some people are sent to a place called purgatory for further purification before entering heaven:

"All who die in God's grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven. " Pg. 2658, #1030
"The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect..." Pg. 268-269, #1031
 

Did this critical doctrine come from God, or is it another tradition of men? Here' s your answer, right out of the Catechism:

"The Church formulated her doctrine of faith on Purgatory especially at the Councils of Florence and Trent." Pg. 268-269, #1031

Is it unreasonable to ask where a group of men got their information about the afterlife to formulate such a doctrine?

Precious Roman Catholic, if you are praying for loved ones you believe are in purgatory, you need to be aware that God didn't tell you they were there, a group of religious leaders did:

"But at the present time some of his disciples are pilgrims on earth. Others have died and are being purified, while still others are in glory..." Pg. 249, #954

If you suffer, it's not a gift

What makes this doctrine even more disturbing is that the Bible never indicates such a place exists. Neither does the Bible teach that further purification after death is necessary to earn going to heaven. On the contrary, God's Word declares that salvation is a free gift:

"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Romans 6:23
"...by the righteousness of one (Jesus) the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life." Romans 5:18
 

Would an honest, loving God offer you eternal life as a free gift - then make you suffer to earn it - then lie about it in His Word?

"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:" Ephesians 2:8

If the Bible is to be believed, then there is no need for further purification for those who die in Christ. They have already been justified by Jesus:

"Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him." Romans 5:9
"Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:" Romans 3:24
 

The Apostle Paul drives home this same point:

"And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus..." 1 Corinthians 6:11

True Christians are already purified because Jesus put away all sin on the cross:

"...but now once in the end of the world hath he (Jesus) appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." Hebrews 9:26

God's children are not required to suffer for salvation because they have been bought and paid for:

"For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." 1 Corinthians 6:20

The price was the blood of Jesus Christ:

"...feed the church of God, which he (Jesus) hath purchased with his own blood." Acts 20:28

Conclusion

If the Bible is so clear on this subject, why did the Catholic church institute a doctrine that has persuaded faithful members to give multiplied millions of dollars to the church to have prayers and Masses said on behalf of departed loved ones? You must answer that for yourself.

Now, at least you know that the doctrine of purgatory was hatched from the minds of mortal men:

"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Romans 8:1

http://chick.com/bc/1997/purgatory.asp
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« Reply #5 on: July 24, 2013, 09:00:17 am »

Vatican Offers Time Off ‘Purgatory’ for Following Pope on Twitter During World Youth Day

July 17, 2013 ROME – In an effort to modernize one of the oldest practices of the Roman Catholic religion, the Vatican is offering indulgences–a reduction of time spent in purgatory–to those who will follow Pope Francis next Monday on Twitter during World Youth Day.

Indulgences were one of the key contentions that sparked the Protestant Reformation during the 16th century through the efforts of Martin Luther, a monk who served the Roman Catholic Church in Wittenburg, Germany. As Luther began studying the Scriptures after he was appointed as Chair of Biblical Theology, he became consumed with a passion to discover what it meant to be a Christian. In the Catholic Church, he had seen men trying to earn their way to Heaven, but as he read the Bible, he realized that salvation was through faith in Christ alone.

“I think I’ve found the truth at last,” the classic film Martin Luther depicts Luther as stating to a Church official. “By faith man lives and is righteous, not by what he does for himself, be it adoration of relics, singing of masses, pilgrimages to Rome, purchase of pardon for his sins, but by faith in what God has done for him already through His Son.”

Following the revelation, Luther began to challenge the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church, compiling a list of 95 thesis where he asserted that Catholic doctrine contradicted the Scriptures. He was later summoned to appear before a meeting of the Church, and was declared a heretic and excommunicated. The offering of indulgences has continued throughout the ages, and has evolved in a variety of ways–including the Vatican’s latest addition to the pitch, to grant a reduction of time in purgatory to those who follow the Pope on Twitter during World Youth Day. The offer is only one of a number of accepted tasks, and the Twitter proposition was presented in order to include those who could not attend the event in Brazil in person. But there is a stipulation. “[Y]ou must be following the events live,” a representative of the Vatican’s apostolic penitentiary told The Guardian. “It is not as if you can get an indulgence by chatting on the internet.” The representative also outlined that the seeker would need to be “truly penitent and contrite,” and must have also previously gone to confession.

However, Mike Gendron of Proclaiming the Gospel Ministries, a former Roman Catholic, told Christian News Network that the entire concept of offering and granting indulgences is unbiblical. “The Vatican’s plan of salvation is diametrically opposed to the Gospel of grace–the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ,” he stated. “And so, to offer indulgences for being involved or [following the Pope via] a Twitter account is so absurd, because the Bible clearly says without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin.” Gendron also said that the teaching of purgatory is false doctrine and is an insult to the Gospel.

“Purgatory denies the efficacy of the blood of Christ, because we read in 1 John 1:7 that the blood of Jesus Christ purifies us from all sin,” he explained. “We also see in Hebrews 1:3 that when Jesus made purification for our sins, He sat down at the right hand of God in Heaven. So, if Catholics would only trust in the blood of Jesus, they would realize that purgatory is a fraud.”

When asked if it is common for Roman Catholics to seek out indulgences, Gendron advised that for years many have indeed carefully followed instructions from Rome in order to reduce their purported purification time in purgatory. “At the turn of the millennium, John Paul II offered a plenary indulgence for anybody that would walk through the holy doors in the Vatican,” he outlined. “So, there were all kinds of Catholics getting on airplanes to travel to the Vatican to walk through those doors so that they could have their sins forgiven.”
He said that Catholics should be mindful to “test every man’s teaching” and to “appeal to the word of God” as their final authority instead of looking to man. Gendron also urged Christians to use the matter as an opportunity to reach out to the Catholics around them. “The best thing that we can do is point Roman Catholics to the Scriptures [and] show them that [the system of purgatory and indulgences] is a fraud,” he explained. “Show them that it’s a false teaching and call upon them to trust in Christ and His blood for the complete forgiveness of sins.”

http://christiannews.net/2013/07/17/vatican-offers-time-off-purgatory-for-following-pope-on-twitter-during-world-youth-day/
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« Reply #6 on: June 18, 2016, 02:23:11 pm »

And again...

Vatican offers 'time off purgatory' to followers of Pope Francis tweets
Papal court handling pardons for sins says contrite Catholics may win 'indulgences' by following World Youth Day on Twitter

In its latest attempt to keep up with the times the Vatican has married one of its oldest traditions to the world of social media by offering "indulgences" to followers of Pope Francis' tweets.

The church's granted indulgences reduce the time Catholics believe they will have to spend in purgatory after they have confessed and been absolved of their sins.

The remissions got a bad name in the Middle Ages because unscrupulous churchmen sold them for large sums of money. But now indulgences are being applied to the 21st century.

But a senior Vatican official warned web-surfing Catholics that indulgences still required a dose of old-fashioned faith, and that paradise was not just a few mouse clicks away.

"You can't obtain indulgences like getting a coffee from a vending machine," Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, head of the pontifical council for social communication, told the Italian daily Corriere della Sera.

Indulgences these days are granted to those who carry out certain tasks – such as climbing the Sacred Steps, in Rome (reportedly brought from Pontius Pilate's house after Jesus scaled them before his crucifixion), a feat that earns believers seven years off purgatory.

But attendance at events such as the Catholic World Youth Day, in Rio de Janeiro, a week-long event starting on 22 July, can also win an indulgence.

Mindful of the faithful who cannot afford to fly to Brazil, the Vatican's sacred apostolic penitentiary, a court which handles the forgiveness of sins, has also extended the privilege to those following the "rites and pious exercises" of the event on television, radio and through social media.

"That includes following Twitter," said a source at the penitentiary, referring to Pope Francis' Twitter account, which has gathered seven million followers. "But you must be following the events live. It is not as if you can get an indulgence by chatting on the internet."

In its decree, the penitentiary said that getting an indulgence would hinge on the beneficiary having previously confessed and being "truly penitent and contrite".

Praying while following events in Rio online would need to be carried out with "requisite devotion", it suggested.

Apart from the papal Twitter account, the Vatican has launched an online news portal supported by an app, a Facebook page, and it plans to use the online social networking site Pinterest.

"What really counts is that the tweets the Pope sends from Brazil or the photos of the Catholic World Youth Day that go up on Pinterest produce authentic spiritual fruit in the hearts of everyone," said Celli.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/16/vatican-indulgences-pope-francis-tweets
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« Reply #7 on: June 03, 2018, 05:35:26 pm »

Pope Francis Is Handing Out EZ-Pass Coupons For Catholic Loved Ones To 'Speed Their Way' Through Purgatory • Now The End Begins

Participants attending the World Meeting of Families in August can be forgiven their sins or help a Catholic relative speed their way through purgatory.

“So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” Revelation 17:3,4 (KJV)

Like the character of Nick the Bartender in the Christmas classic ‘It’s A Wonderful Life‘, leader of the Catholic religion Pope Francis is ‘giving out wings‘ at the upcoming World Meeting of Families in Ireland in August of this year. And the ‘wings’ to ‘speed through purgatory’ being given out by the pope are every bit as meaningless and worthless as were the ‘wings’ from Nick the Bartender.

Pope Francis has granted a “plenary indulgence’ for those taking part in the WMOF this year, the BBC reported today. In Catholic doctrine an indulgence frees you from being punished for your previously committed sins or it can be passed on to dead relatives to shorten their time in purgatory. Even those following events on TV and radio can achieve a partial indulgence as long as they recite the Our Father, the Creed and other devout prayers.

Memo to Pope Francis: Better pull up your skirt, your con game is showing.
Paying real money to get out of the imaginary purgatory has been the Vatican’s most profitable hoax

Purgatory, unlike Hell, is an imaginary place that exists nowhere but in the fanciful imaginations of the Roman Catholic harlot. But the Vatican did indeed add this blasphemous lie to their lineup of blasphemous doctrine around the 11th century AD. What exactly is the Catholic doctrine of purgatory, you ask? Let’s let the folks over at CatholicAnswers.com give us the lowdown, don’t want to ‘misquote’ what they teach. But suffice to say, the con game goes like this:

    FROM CATHOLIC ANSWERS: The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines purgatory as a “purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven,” which is experienced by those “who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified” (CCC 1030). It notes that “this final purification of the elect . . . is entirely different from the punishment of the damned” (CCC 1031).  The purification is necessary because, as Scripture teaches, nothing unclean will enter the presence of God in heaven (Rev. 21:27) and, while we may die with our mortal sins forgiven, there can still be many impurities in us, specifically venial sins and the temporal punishment due to sins already forgiven. source

Now, please turn in your King James Bible and let’s look at the doctrine of purgatory. Umm…no, you’ll not find it in either Testament for it exists only in the teachings of the ‘early church fathers’ in a piece of trash known as the unbiblical Apocrypha. But purgatory exists no where in the Bible.

“As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, The soul from Purgatory springs.’ Johann Tetzel

Now after they invented this lie in the 11th century, they dropped the ‘other shoe’ and told Catholics that if your loved one has died and is in Purgatory, the only way to get them out was to have ‘special masses’ said for them. Of course, having a ‘special mass’ said does not come cheap, so the family of the purgatizing loved one had to pony up big bucks, or their homes, or give away their land to the Vatican. Basically, anything of financial value was bartered in exchange for the magical ‘special mass’ to be said.

alk about a ponzi scheme, talk about a con game! But seriously, brethren, when you refuse to believe the Bible, you will believe just about anything else. Even doctrine that sounds like it was crafted by old PT Barnum himself.

Now you know where the Vatican billions came from, and how the Vatican grew to be the wealthiest corporation on the face of the earth. But I digress, let’s get back to what the pope will be doing at the WMOF in August.



Pope Francis will be handing out these ‘express line’ tickets for Catholic loved ones in Purgatory, in exchange for ‘climbing Ireland’s holy mountain and pray in the chapel at the top’, ‘pray for the dead on specially-arranged dates’, visiting approved shrines and statues’, and of course, by putting a nice, sizable offering into the collection plate.

The Bible refers to the Catholic Church as MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. And so she is. The Bible also has a message of warning to all the followers of the Vatican counterfeit, disregard it at your own eternal peril.

“And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” Revelation 18:4 (KJV)

http://www.nowtheendbegins.com/pope-francis-is-handing-out-ez-pass-coupons-for-catholic-loved-ones-to-speed-their-way-through-purgatory/
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« Reply #8 on: June 04, 2018, 08:30:36 am »

Court in charge of forgiveness of sins says those that follow upcoming event via social media will be granted indulgences.

Good thing they do not use loyalty cards, lest hackers steal the indulgence credits for their own personal benefit.
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