Topic: Indulgences

Date originally posted: March 21, 2002

Source of this posting: Moderator response to emailed question

Moderator who originally posted this source: B. Egan

Question:  I am a protestant, but attended a Catholic service of the Stations of the Cross.  At the back of the booklet, there was a statement concerning indulgences for this service.  Would   you tell me about the role of indulgences in the church today?  I thought I understood at one time in the distant past, they were used to raise $ for church projects and the parishioner would receive merit or better standing before God. Any comments would be much appreciated including any historical background and biblical basis for this.  Thank you very much.  

Answer:

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church: 

"An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions through the action of the Church which, as the minister of redemption, dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions of Christ and the saints. An indulgence is partial or plenary according as it removes either part or all of the temporal punishment due to sin.  The faithful can gain indulgences for themselves or apply them to the dead" (n. 1471).

 Pope John Paul II, in a 1999 General Audience address, noted that the subject of indulgences is a sensitive one "which has suffered historical misunderstandings that have had a negative impact on communion between Christians."  You have correctly stated that the Catholic Church has sold indulgences.  In fact, the money used to construct St. Peter's Basilica in Rome came in great part from the selling of indulgences.  The practice of selling indulgences, originally thought of as a charitable contribution to the Church in return for a shorter stay in Purgatory, got out of hand, and a man by the name of Martin Luther spoke out against the abuse.  The Reformation Era that followed saw the slow elimination of such abuses.  Many of today's Catholics may have thought that the Church's practice of granting indulgences ended centuries ago, but the Church's recent celebration of the Jubilee Year brought them back into focus.

 The Church's doctrine on indulgences is linked directly to its understanding of sin.  "Every sin, even venial, entails an unhealthy attachment to creatures, which must be purified either here on earth, or after death in the state called Purgatory" (Catechism, n. 1472).  The Catechism goes on to state that "a conversion which proceeds from a fervent charity can attain the complete purification of the sinner in such a way that no punishment would remain" (n. 1472). 

In the Sacrament of Reconciliation, if people who have confessed are truly sorry for their sins, they are absolved of them.  But it is expected that they will go forth and make amends where possible and strive to live better lives.  They "should strive by works of mercy and charity, as well as by prayer and the various practices of penance, to put off completely the 'old man' and put on the 'new man'" (n. 1473).  Indulgences are granted for the completion of such works of mercy and charity, prayer and penance.  Praying the Stations of the Cross, as you wrote in your question, affords remission of the temporal punishments due for sin.  Pope John Paul II's General Audience address stated: 

"We can see, then, how indulgences, far from being a sort of 'discount' on the duty of conversion, are instead an aid to its prompt, generous and radical fulfillment.  Therefore, it would be a mistake to think that we can receive this gift by simply performing certain outward acts.  On the contrary, they are required as the expression and support of our progress in conversion."