Vatican News: Act of Contrition and Sacrament of Reconciliation Should we be in need of forgiveness of mortal sin, and cannot for some reason go to confession, a perfect Act of Contrition is needed along with the intention of going to confession as soon as possible. Today, Catholics may seek indulgences for dead relatives in the same way they seek indulgences for themselves. But they are then limited to praying that Christ or the saints intervene on behalf of their loved ones so that these indulgences may count toward reduced punishment. 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.

A plenary indulgence may also be gained on some occasions, which are not everyday occurrences. They include but are not limited to: Sergey Govorun [ ru]. "Индульгенции в истории греческой церкви" [Indulgences in the History of the Greek Church)]. The third indulgence was for those who made an offering for an "end of the epidemic, relief for those who are afflicted and eternal salvation for those whom the Lord has called to Himself." The offering was either a visit to the Eucharist, Eucharistic adoration, Rosary, Stations of the Cross, Chaplet of the Divine Mercy, or reading the Bible for half an hour. Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005, article plenary indulgence By 1500, indulgences had developed into a printed letter that said that having paid money a person had received full pardon for all their sins. Even people who had died and were suffering in purgatory could be instantly freed if a living person paid for the indulgence. The money was used for building a church in Rome, with some of it going to local princes or secular leaders.He also taught, in accordance with the opinion then held, that an indulgence could be applied to any given soul with unfailing effect. Starting from this assumption, there is no doubt that his doctrine was virtually that of the drastic proverb: Marshall, Peter (October 2017). 1517: Martin Luther and the Invention of the Reformation. Oxford University Press. p. 61. ISBN 9780199682010. Indulgences became increasingly popular in the Middle Ages as a reward for displaying piety and doing good deeds, though, doctrinally speaking, the Catholic Church stated that the indulgence was only valid for temporal punishment for sins already forgiven in the Sacrament of Confession. In addition, indulgences were granted for acts of almsgiving, as well as prayer, pilgrimages and fasts. Because indulgences granted for almsgiving seemed to some like a simple monetary transaction, rather than seeing the indulgence as granted for the good deed itself— the act of charity done for a hospital, orphanage or church— many began to see indulgences for almsgiving as simply "buying" or "purchasing" indulgences. The faithful asked that indulgences be given for saying their favourite prayers, doing acts of devotion, attending places of worship, and going on pilgrimage; confraternities wanted indulgences for putting on performances and processions; associations demanded that their meetings be rewarded with indulgences. Good deeds included charitable donations of money for a good cause, and money thus raised was used for many causes, both religious and civil; building projects funded by indulgences include churches, hospitals, leper colonies, schools, roads, and bridges. [40] Marshall, Peter (October 2017). 1517: Martin Luther and the Invention of the Reformation. Oxford University Press. p. 36. ISBN 9780199682010.

Peter Marshall, 1517: Martin Luther and the Invention of the Reformation, (2017), pp. 26 Council of Trent edit Plenary Indulgence". World Youth Day 2008. 2008. Archived from the original on 2 September 2007 . Retrieved 2 November 2019. Both partial and plenary indulgences can be granted by the diocesan bishop and that of and eparchy, by the major archbishop, metropolite and patriarch, by the cardinal, as well as by the Pope and the Apostolic Penitentiary. [25] Indulgences remind us that mercy is pure gift from God, unmerited on our part. Nevertheless, the Church is concerned to demonstrate that indulgences are not something mechanical or superstitious. For Pope Paul VI, they were the means of cultivating a ‘spirit of prayer and penance’ and the practice of the theological virtues. Indulgences are connected to some act of piety or devotion which are a sign of our willingness to receive forgiveness. They are always connected to faith, which is why the Church asks those gaining indulgences to be properly disposed, to pray and to receive the sacraments.

This comprehensive doctrine, revised in 1967 by Pope Paul VI, remains one of the church’s teachings to this day. For example, from November 2021 to November 2022, the National Shrine of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini in Chicago offered indulgences. It did so to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the canonization of Mother Cabrini, the first American citizen to be declared a saint, revered by Catholics for her work with fellow Italian immigrants to the United States. An indulgence does not forgive the guilt of sin, nor does it provide release from the eternal punishment associated with unforgiven mortal sins. The Catholic Church teaches that indulgences relieve only the temporal punishment resulting from the effect of sin (the effect of rejecting God the source of good), and that a person is still required to have their grave sins absolved, ordinarily through the sacrament of Confession, to receive salvation. Similarly, an indulgence is not a permit to commit sin, a pardon of future sin, nor a guarantee of salvation for oneself or for another. [13] Ordinarily, forgiveness of mortal sins is obtained through Confession (also known as the sacrament of penance or reconciliation). Indulgences were introduced to allow for the remission of the severe penances of the early church and granted at the intercession of Christians awaiting martyrdom or at least imprisoned for the faith. [4] The church teaches that indulgences draw on the treasury of merit accumulated by Jesus' superabundantly meritorious sacrifice on the cross and the virtues and penances of the saints. [5] They are granted for specific good works and prayers [5] in proportion to the devotion with which those good works are performed or prayers recited. [6]

The Great Jubilee Indulgence". Ewtn.com. Archived from the original on 28 May 2019 . Retrieved 2 November 2019. God of everlasting mercy, Who, in the very recurrence of the paschal feast kindle the faith of the people You have made Your own, increase, we pray, the grace You have bestowed, that all may grasp and rightly understand in what font they have been washed, by Whose Spirit they have been reborn, by Whose Blood they have been redeemed. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, Who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.’ Receiving, even by radio or television, the blessing given by the Pope Urbi et Orbi ('to the city [of Rome] and to the world') or that which a bishop is authorized to give three times a year to the faithful of his diocese. [17] However, in the later Middle Ages growth of considerable abuses occurred. Some commissaries sought to extract the maximum amount of money for each indulgence. [43] Professional "pardoners" [4] ( quaestores in Latin) – who were sent to collect alms for a specific project – practiced the unrestricted sale of indulgences. Many of these quaestores exceeded official church doctrine, and promised rewards such as salvation from eternal damnation in return for money. With the permission of the church, indulgences also became a way for Catholic rulers to fund expensive projects, such as Crusades and cathedrals, by keeping a significant portion of the money raised from indulgences in their lands. [40] There was a tendency to forge documents declaring that indulgences had been granted. [40] Indulgences grew to extraordinary magnitude, in terms of longevity and breadth of forgiveness.A few years later, in 1567, Pope Pius V canceled all grants of indulgences involving any fees or other financial transactions. [62] [63] This meant that indulgences would continue to be attached to virtuous acts of prayer, piety and pilgrimages, but no longer would they be attached to almsgiving, because the potential for abuse of such indulgences was deemed too great. This oft-quoted saying was by no means representative of the official Catholic teaching on indulgences, but rather, more a reflection of Tetzel's capacity to exaggerate. Yet if Tetzel overstated the matter in regard to indulgences for the dead, his teaching on indulgences for the living was pure. A German Catholic historian of the Papacy, Ludwig von Pastor, explains: [51] Gergely M. Juhász, "Indulgences." In: Encyclopedia of Martin Luther and the Reformation, 2017, Mark A. Lamport, ed., Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, Boulder, New York & London, vol. 1, p. 376. ISBN 9781442271586 Peters, Edward (2008). A Modern Guide to Indulgences: Rediscovering This Often Misinterpreted Teaching. LiturgyTrainingPublications. p. 13. ISBN 9781595250247.