Roman Catholic Church traditions and practices have evolved to fit a changing world in the past 2,000 years. Papal influence in government and the Latin mass are no longer Catholic standards, but some of the institutions’ most controversial practices remain.Pope Benedict XVI devoted the year between July 28, 2008 and June 28, 2009 to the celebration of the 2,000th birthday of St. Paul, which historians place between seven and 10 A.D. A part of this celebration includes offering plenary indulgences to Catholics who meet certain conditions.Indulgences offer the faithful either partial or full relief from time spent in purgatory, a spiritual place where Catholics believe sinners must go to be purified after death. “Even if we have no sin on our souls when we die, there are temporal effects of sin we must account for,” said Rev. Chris Decker, pastor of St. Jude Catholic Church. “When we talk about indulgences, we say those temporal effects are wiped away.” This year, after making a full confession to a priest, praying for the intentions of the pontiff and making a pilgrimage to a site dedicated to St. Paul, Catholics can receive a plenary indulgence, which fully frees the recipient from time in purgatory.Initially, the pope offered these plenary indulgences to pilgrims traveling to the Basilica of St. Paul on the Ostian Way in Rome. The offer was expanded to those who could not travel to Rome when any church dedicated to St. Paul was decreed a place of pilgrimage. Included in the decree was St. Paul’s Catholic Church in downtown Baton Rouge.Rev. Vincent Alexius, pastor of St. Paul’s, said he had not been officially contacted by the diocese about plenary indulgences. Alexius said because a priest is not required to confer indulgences associated with the Pauline year, the diocese had not given him any instruction.”The Church wants to attract people to their spiritual opportunities,” said Rev. Paul Counce, judicial vicar of the Baton Rouge diocese. “It’s not to have people discover new things, but the joy of faith that has been there all along.”In the 1500s, the selling of indulgences was one of the abuses which lead Martin Luther to initiate the Protestant Reformation. While some indulgences could be bought up front from a priest or bishop, in 1517 Pope Leo X offered indulgences to those who helped pay for the reconstruction of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.”Selling indulgences was something that grew out of misconceptions in the Middle Ages,” said Deacon Ronald Guidry of the Archdiocese of New Orleans Worship department. “The Church has never had the right or the power to sell God’s grace.”During the Council of Trent in 1563, the Catholic Church officially banned the selling of indulgences. Though no money needs to change hands to receive a plenary indulgence, the Catholic Church has never denied a donation.”When it comes to money, if people want to make an offering of thanksgiving, sometimes God moves us to action,” Decker said. Though the tradition of indulgences has remained with the institution, it has become less relevant because of the stigma lingering from the split in the Church.”There is a lot of confusion among Catholics and all Christians about what an indulgence is,” said Angela Miceli, a political science graduate student and University’s Parousian Catholic group member. “People don’t really understand where it comes from.”The tradition of indulgences has lost its popularity with Catholics because the Church has not emphasized some of the older sacramentals in recent years, according to Decker. He said plenary indulgences offered during the Pauline year are a good way to remind people of their opportunities.——Contact Adam Duvernay at [email protected]