At one time, the
Catholic Church sold indulgences. This was meant
as a
fund raiser allowing a person to pay the
church to spend
less time in
Hell or
Purgatory. It was also possible to buy
indulgences for people who have were currently spending time in
the
after life to reduce their sentence and get to
Heaven sooner.
The sale of indulgences was one of the reasons Martin Luther
rebelled against the Roman Catholic Church. His
challenge
of them lead to his excommunication.