Final answer:
The Catholic Church still believes in purgatory, a state of post-death purification. This belief has undergone reform but remains part of Catholic doctrine, including historical practices like indulgences. However, these practices have been refined to avoid past abuses.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Catholic Church's doctrine includes the belief in purgatory, which is a state of purification after death for those who have died in God's friendship but still need to be purified due to venial sins or the temporal punishment due to sin before entering the fullness of Heaven. Purgatory represents an intermediate state where souls atone for their sins to achieve the holiness necessary to enter Heaven. This belief is evident in the practice of praying for the dead and the historical use of indulgences to reduce time in purgatory. The concept faced criticism during the Protestant Reformation, most notably by Martin Luther, who protested against the abuse of indulgences in his Ninety-five Theses. In Catholic theology, however, purgatory remains a fundamental belief, and the practices surrounding it, while refined and clarified over time, maintain a place within the church's doctrines and traditions.
Bishop Alcock's chantry chapel, for example, was a space devoted to praying for individuals to shorten their time in purgatory. The concept of an indulgence, historically, was a means to express gratitude through a certificate confirming less time spent in purgatory, provided the person did not commit sins that condemned them to Hell. Such practices were integral to Catholic beliefs during the medieval period and have continued, in evolved and reformed manners, to present times.