To all those of goodwill, the new Pope, Francis, offered a "plenary indulgence" along with his first Papal Blessing. "What in the world is that?" you may be asking. Or maybe not. But simply by watching, you already received one, or so the church teaches: You received the Powerful Blessing. Of a Humble and Holy Man. (The whole idea of an indulgence actually turns on whether or not you believe in Purgatory, a concept which has no basis, to my mind, in scripture - thereby making this statement heretical and worthy of this blog!)
For a fun consideration of indulgences, you can read my blog on that topic from several years back. The original blog was posted at TPM and when they closed their reader blogs, I selected about a third of them and posted the blogs - along with comments. Some of the comments are priceless, so if you have the time, read the blog here. Otherwise, right here where it's heretical nature belongs.
Of course, heresy is in the eye of the beholder...
For a fun consideration of indulgences, you can read my blog on that topic from several years back. The original blog was posted at TPM and when they closed their reader blogs, I selected about a third of them and posted the blogs - along with comments. Some of the comments are priceless, so if you have the time, read the blog here. Otherwise, right here where it's heretical nature belongs.
Of course, heresy is in the eye of the beholder...
