Indulgences

"Although reformers had many complaints about
the Catholic Church of the sixteenth century, the
practice of selling "indulgences" raised the most
opposition. An indulgence was a payment to the
Catholic Church that purchased an exemption
from punishment (penance) for some types of
sins. You could not get an indulgence that would
excuse a murder, but you could get one for
many lesser sins. The customers were Catholic
believers who feared that some sins might go
unnoticed or unconfessed.
The sale of indulgences was a byproduct of the
Crusades in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.
Crusaders were promised immediate salvation if
they died while performing a good deed, such
as fighting to "liberate" the Christian holy city at
Jerusalem. The Church based this on the
argument that good works earned salvation, so
paying money to support good works could do
the same. To justify the sale of indulgences,
Church leaders argued that they had inherited
an unlimited amount of good works from Jesus,
and the credit for these good works could be
sold to believers in the form of indulgences. In
other words, indulgences were something like
"confession insurance" against eternal
damnation. If you purchased an indulgence,
then you wouldn't go to heck if you died
suddenly or forgot to confess something.
In later years, the sale of indulgences spread to
include forgiveness for the sins of people who
were already dead. Examine the message in this
passage from a sermon by John Tetzel, the
monk who sold indulgences in Germany and
inspired Martin Luther's protest in 1517."

courses.wcupa.edu/jones/his101/web/37luther.htm

-or-

"What then is an indulgence?
An indulgence is simply a remission through the
infinite merits of JesusChrist and His Saints of
the temporal punishment due for sins
committedafter guilt and eternal punishment
have been remitted.
Sacred Scripture gives us an example of what is
meant by "temporal punishment."Mary, the
sister of Moses, was forgiven by God for
complaining againsther brother. Nevertheless,
despite such forgiveness, God imposed upon
herthe temporal punishment of leprosy and
seven days exile from her people(Num. 12). A
thief may be sorry for stealing a large sum of
money froma gentleman, but he is still required
to return the money taken and evendo time in
prison.
That Our Lord has given the Church the power
of granting indulgencesis implied in Scripture: "I
will give you the keys of the kingdom of
heaven,and whatever you bind on earth will be
bound in heaven, and whatever youloose on
earth will be loosed in heaven" (St. Matt. 16, 19)
. We noticethat no limit is placed upon this
power of loosing, "the power of the keys"as it is
called ."

www.catholicapologetics.info/apologetics/general/indlgnc.htm