Myths About Indulgences

What an indulgence is

Paul VI defined it as a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the duly disposed faithful gain under certain conditions through the Church, which dispenses the treasury of satisfactions of Christ and the saints (Indulgentiarum Doctrina 1).

Seven myths

1. Buying one's way out of hell. Indulgences remit only temporal penalties, never hell. After death one's eternal fate is set (Hebrews 9:27).
2. Indulgences for future sins. The Catholic Encyclopedia says an indulgence is neither a permission to sin nor a pardon of future sin.
3. Buying forgiveness. Indulgences presuppose forgiveness and deal only with remaining punishment.
4. Invented to raise money. They developed from the sacrament of reconciliation as a shortening of penance, centuries before money problems.
5. A fixed number of days off purgatory. The days referred to earthly penance; the Church claims no knowledge of purgatory's length.
6. Indulgences can be bought. After Trent's reforms, in 1567 Pius V canceled all grants involving fees.
7. They used to be bought. Never outright. In the scandal that gave Luther his pretext, almsgiving to a charitable cause was the occasion of the indulgence, and almsgiving from right motives is praiseworthy.

Common questions

• How much can be remitted? Potentially all. Christ and the saints pray for us (Hebrews 7:25; Revelation 5:8), and the Church draws on their merits, infinite because Christ is God, with the saints' merits united to his.
• Why not remit everyone's penalties? God wills temporal penalties for discipline, as he disciplines every son (Hebrews 12:6), and remission depends on disposition. Paul VI said indulgences require sincere conversion and unity with God.
• What happened to "days"? They meant a partial remission proportionate to that much ancient penance, but confused people. Paul VI's revised Enchiridion drops days; indulgences are now partial or plenary, removing part or all of temporal punishment. Only God knows their exact effect.
• Do they negate Christ's work? No. They apply only to temporal penalties, and the Church applies Christ's merits as his servant; his work is applied to us over time (Philippians 2:12; 1 Peter 1:9). Paul even spoke of completing in his flesh what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the Church (Colossians 1:24). Paul VI recommended indulgences to the faithful.

How to gain an indulgence

You must be a Catholic in a state of grace with at least a habitual intention to gain it. For a partial indulgence, perform the act with a contrite heart. For a plenary indulgence, also go to confession (one may serve for several), receive Communion, pray for the pope's intentions, and be free of all attachment to sin, even venial; otherwise the indulgence is partial. Examples from the Handbook of Indulgences:

• A spiritual communion in any devout formula: partial.
• Mental prayer: partial.
• The rosary in a church, family or religious community: plenary; otherwise partial.
• Reading Scripture with veneration: partial; plenary for at least half an hour.
• Making the sign of the cross with its formula: partial.

Indulgences neither add to nor take from Christ's work; they are his work through his body, the Church.