This says it all right here, folks.

[XacerbatedDem]

58. And then there's the Catholic version.

I was raised Catholic throughout my childhood and was forced to go to confession on a regular basis. I was told if you don't confess your sins and do penance, then you would go to hell.

But...

There's was a way around it, if you didn't want to confess your sins to a priest. It's called The Act of Contrition: a simple prayer that if you recited it right before you died, then you were guaranteed entry into heaven, no matter how you had lived your life. It goes like this:

"O my God, I am most heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins, because I dread the loss of Heaven and the pains of hell, but most of all because they have offend Thee, my God, Who art all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve with the help of Thy grace to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life. Amen."

The implication was that you could sin all you want, right up until the moment before you died, then all you had to do is say that prayer and all was forgiven.

There was a catch, though: having enough time to say it. If you died before finishing it, or thought about saying it but didn't get the chance before you died, well, too late. Maybe, you might make it to Purgatory, but that was a long shot.