Marshall, Peter (October 2017). 1517: Martin Luther and the Invention of the Reformation. Oxford University Press. p. 61. ISBN 9780199682010. The doctrine of indulgences is rooted in the Catholic doctrine of punishment due after the forgiveness of sins and emerged as a means to ease the burden of this punishment. As early as the sixth century, Catholic priests in Ireland assigned difficult penitential works like pilgrimages to faraway Jerusalem, but some began to adjust these works based on an individual’s ability to bear them. Reducing or eliminating punishment for sins The recipient of an indulgence must perform an action to receive it. This is most often the saying (once, or many times) of a specified prayer, but may also include a pilgrimage, the visiting of a particular place (such as a shrine, church or cemetery) or the performance of specific good works. [3] ask, for example: Why does not the pope liberate everyone from Purgatory for the sake of love (a most holy thing) and because of the supreme necessity of their souls? This would be morally the best of reasons. Meanwhile he redeems innumerable souls for money, a most perishable thing, with which to build St. Peter’s church, a very minor purpose. Raising the mind to God with humble trust while performing one's duties and bearing life's difficulties, and adding, at least mentally, some pious invocation.

The church teaches that even when a person has been ritually forgiven, God’s justice still requires some punishment to purge the sin – at the very least, suffering and miseries on Earth. Moreover, the church teaches, these hardships are to be welcomed because they purify the soul and heal the stain of original sin. Stafford, Cardinal James Francis (21 November 2007). Girotti, Gianfranco (ed.). "Grant of indulgence on the occasion of the 150th apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Lourdes". Vatican.va . Retrieved 2 November 2019. Decree of the Apostolic Penitentiary on the granting of special Indulgences to the faithful in the current pandemic". press.vatican.va. In addition to the eternal punishment due to mortal sin, every sin, including venial sin, is a turning away from God through what the Catechism of the Catholic Church calls an "unhealthy attachment to creatures", an attachment that must be purified either here on earth, or after death in the state called purgatory. [2] "The process of sanctification and interior renewal requires not only forgiveness from the guilt ( culpa) of sin, but also purification from the harmful effects or wounds of sin." [12] This purification process gives rise to "temporal punishment", because, not involving a total rejection of God, it is not eternal and can be expiated. Catholic teaching states that the temporal punishment of sin should be accepted as a grace, and that the sinner "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 to put on the 'new man'." [2]

The basis of indulgences was said to be that the church has a "treasury of merit". This came from past Christians who had been even better than was required to gain salvation. Their good deeds were kept in a kind of bank that the Pope could draw from. He could give or sell the merit to others whose sins prevented them from being saved. Pope Francis issued an indulgence to young people attending World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro in 2013. He sees the granting of indulgences as integral to the Year of Mercy. It is only possible to gain one indulgence per day, but otherwise we can obtain the indulgence throughout the Year of Mercy.

By the time of Luther, certificates of indulgences were being sold to raise money on behalf of important patrons like the pope, who needed funds to build St. Peter’s Basilica. The priests who peddled these certificates preyed on faithful believers who feared punishment not just for themselves but also for loved ones who had died. Special indulgences are also granted on occasions of particular spiritual significance such as a jubilee year [31] or the centenary or similar anniversary of an event such as the apparition of Our Lady of Lourdes. [32] Apostolic Blessing edit Before the Montini's reformation, stating that an indulgence of 40 days, 300 days or 7 years has been gained did not mean that a soul in Purgatory avoided a temporal punishment of 40 days, 300 days or 7 years; it meant, instead, that a soul in Purgatory avoided a temporal punishment of the same duration as that which it would have served with a traditional canonical penance of 40 days, 300 days or 7 years. Pope Leo XIII abolished all indulgences of a thousand years. [15] Dispositions necessary to gain an indulgence editTaking part devoutly in the celebration of a day devoted on a world level to a particular religious purpose. [17] Under this heading come the annual celebrations such as the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, and occasional celebrations such as World Youth Day. [29] [30] One did not, however, have to do it all by oneself. Medieval Christianity was a vast community of mutual help through prayer and good works, uniting the living and the dead in the Church Militant on earth, the Church Suffering in purgatory, and the Church Triumphant in heaven. The good works of Jesus Christ, the saints, and others could be drawn upon to liberate souls from purgatory. In 1343 Pope Clement VI decreed that all these good works were in the Treasury of Merit, over which the pope had control.

From the early church onward, bishops could reduce or dispense with the rigours of penances, but indulgences emerged in only the 11th and 12th centuries when the idea of purgatory took widespread hold and when the popes became the activist leaders of the reforming church. In their zeal, they promoted the militant reclamation of once-Christian lands—first of Iberia in the Reconquista, then of the Holy Land in the Crusades—offering “full remission of sins,” the first indulgences, as inducements to participation. The faithful must cooperate with God’s freely given help, or grace, to heal the stain of sin. Still, according to Augustine and the church, regardless of effort, they are likely to sin again.

Forgiveness and reconciliation with God

To gain a plenary indulgence, upon performing the charitable work or praying the aspiration or prayer for which the indulgence is granted, one must fulfill the prescribed conditions of: Marshall, Peter (October 2017). 1517: Martin Luther and the Invention of the Reformation. Oxford University Press. p. 31. ISBN 9780199682010. Besides the above actions, the 1968 Enchiridion of Indulgences lists the following actions as granting a plenary indulgence: [28]