What were the effects of selling indulgences?

Answer 1

Indulgences were "Get out of Jail Free" cards issued by the Catholic Pope in Rome for certain 'financial' remunerations, that allowed you to think you were buying your way into Heaven..

Another view

The Catholic Church never officially sold indulgences. Some unscrupulous people in Europe went around selling indulgences.

Common practice was that you could make a donation if you wanted to but it was not compulsory.

Every sin had a price tag..Venal ones were so much, mortal ones were a bit more, etc.. You could sin all you wanted, and if you had the money, you could buy your 'forgiveness'..this tended to allow the rich and powerful to be slightly less Christian than they should have been, at the expense of the poor and powerless.

Another view

The "pardoners" who sold the indulgences, which practice was against the teaching of the church, put the price on the different sins. It was not something which the church taught.

If people thought they could buy their way into heaven, it was a misconception fostered by the pardoners.

It has never been the teaching of the Catholic church that one could buy your way into heaven.

If I remember my history, this is one of the things that Martin Luther got his hackles up about, and caused one of the more monumental splits within the medieval Christian Church.

He rightly thought that the church should have been doing more to stop the pardoners from selling indulgences but unfortunately it was a good source of revenue so they were turning a blind eye as the pope of the time had envisioned the building of St Peter's in Rome. This was a dreadful error and it was right that Martin Luther spoke out about it...so did many churchmen of the time but Luther was the lucky one who had his printed and distributed.

It was one of many corruptions which had set in at the time.

There seems to be a general misunderstanding of what exactly an indulgence was and is. An indulgence is the remission of personal punishment that must be paid for personal sin.

Another view

It is not a punishment per se but part of the sanctification process we must all go through to make us holy in the sight of God.

Our sufferings on this earth, if born patiently and in faith in God's grace, help us to grow strong spiritually. This sanctification process continues after we meet God face to face. An indulgence sanctifies a person further so some of the process becomes unnecessary.

Catholics believe that all sin requires restitution.

Another view

The only restitution Catholics believe in is that which Jesus made. No one can add to that but we can cooperate with it by having faith in His power to save and make restitution for our sins.

They believe that they must either make restitution in this life, or the next in Purgatory.

Purgatory is the name give to the state a soul is in when they are being further sanctified after death.

An indulgence was a special exception granted by the Church to a soul regarding the temporal punishment for their personal sins.

Another view

As already stated, it is not really a punishment, it is a making Holy, a painful process but not a punishment. Temporal is an incorrect word to use as the process occurs in eternity where there is no time. But "time" is used to help us comprehend what is going on as we are not equipped to appreciate eternity.

In fact, to even get an indulgence you had to already be free from sin: the person first had to go to confession and be in the state of grace in order to gain the indulgence.

If a free card to heaven is looked for, one only need to reference Confession, where the most abominable sins are forgiven at the mere word of a priest.

Another view

It is true that one has to be in the state of grace to receive an indulgence but it is not by the mere word of a priest that forgiveness is granted. Only God forgives sins.

A person has to have a firm purpose not to sin again, must be sorry for the sins they have committed because they are an offence to God and must confess them to God. The priest is simply there as a reminder that God is there listening.

Jesus said to the apostles "Whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven" thus giving them the authority to pronounce what God does when we confess sin.

Other Christians confess their sins straight to God but when a Catholic confesses it is more tangible and they are also given some advice on how not to sin again if they ask for it.

The "selling of an indulgence" is not a deplorable thing it itself: the indulgence could be had for a donation, which amounts to an almsgiving, which is a very virtuous thing. What happened was a corruption: the indulgences were offered in such a way as to make buyers feel free from the consequences of sin as well as charging fixed prices and rates with the alms going to less than worthy causes at times.

Indulgences are still attached to certain prayers and virtuous acts, and to this day any Catholic may receive them, providing they are in the correct dispositions, for free.

Another answer

1. A single prayer to the blessed Virgin Mary, 500 days less wait in purgatory.

2. Salve Regina, 5 yrs off.

3. Anima Christi, 300 days.

4. Anima Christi after communion, 7 yrs off according to Ignatius Loyola.

5. If one as much hears someone says 3 very beautiful prayer for the dying, 400 yrs off.

6. If you say "Eternal Father, I offer thee the wounds of our Lord Jesus Christ to heal the wounds of our souls", 300 days off.

Answer 2

Roman Catholic AnswerAccording to the Roman Catholic Church, there has never been an authorized practice of selling Indulgences. There are three penitential acts mentioned in the The Bible: " Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving". There were indulgences offered for all three. Due to abuses in the 15th and 16th century the Church was accused of selling indulgences. Due to the problems, and the accusations, the practice of offering indulgences for alms has been discontinued. Indulgences were never, and are not now a "certificate for forgiving sins. Indulgences have nothing whatsoever to do with getting sin forgiven, this is a grave error, I have no idea where it came from. Indulgences are concerned with the penalty that is to be paid for a sin that has already been forgiven through the power of Our Blessed Lord's Crucifixion, that is administered in the sacrament of confession. Unless a sin has previously been forgiven, no indulgence would be possible for there would be no "left-over" penalty to be paid. Non-Catholic AnswerThe Church had developed the practice of issuing indulgences, certificates that people had been forgiven for certain sins, if the person had made a donation to the church. Certainly the action had every appearance of a transaction. The person offering the money certainly had every reason to believe that the payment would result in the issue of the indulgence. The appearance became even more pronounced when the issue of indulgences for money was encouraged by the Papacy in order to raise funds for their building projects, such as the rebuilding of St. Peter's.

Answer 3

The "selling of indulgences" was a red herring propagated by protestant historians in an effort to justify the protestant revolt from the Catholic Church established by Our Blessed Lord, Jesus Christ, to effect the salvation of souls until the end of the world. Before that time indulgences could be gained for any of the penitential practices recommended by Our Blessed Lord: Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving. Because of the stink raised by several heretics and their spiritual heirs, we can no longer can indulgences for almsgiving.

Answer 4

An indulgence was an item that the Church sold to help pay for the church. Sometimes it was a bit of a bone who they said was from a saint and at other times it was a forgiving of sins so when the person died they knew they would be going to heaven.

Answer 5

It caused Martin Luther to get angry and create his own church, which we know today as the Protestant religion.