Indulgences: How They Work

   What indulgences are and how they're obtained are explained in the
   Catholic Answers tract "Introduction to Indulgences." That tract
   refers to the official listing of indulgences, the Enchiridion of
   Indulgences. An appendix to that document is Indulgentiarum Doctrina,
   an apostolci constitution on, as the name suggests, the doctrine of
   indulgences. This document was issued by Pope Paul VI in 1967 and in
   it he explains the doctrine and provides the biblical and theological
   basis for this most misunderstood of beliefs. In this tract we'll look
   at what's said and at some of its supporting notes.
   
   The constitution begins with a reminder that a full understanding of
   Catholic doctrines comes not just through an examination of formal
   doctrinal statements, but also through an examination of the Church's
   pastoral practice. One might rephrase that by saying truths are more
   often lived than defined. Formal definitions usually come only when a
   doctrine is being violated or misconstrued. What the Church believes
   is often best understood by seeing how the Church acts and has acted.
   As Pope Celestine I put it, Legem credendi statuit lex orandi: "The
   rule of prayer determines the rule of faith."
   
   Augustine reminded us that sinners are punished not just in the
   hereafter, but in this life as well (see 1 Cor. 11:31-32). In his
   Tract on the Gospel of John, Augustine wrote that "man is obliged to
   suffer, even when his sins are forgiven . . . for the penalty is of
   longer duration than the guilt, lest the guilt should be accounted
   small, were the penalty also to end with it. It is for this reason . .
   . that man is held in this life to the penalty, even when he is no
   longer held to the guilt unto eternal damnation."
   
   What we have to keep clear in our minds is that punishment for sins is
   not always removed when guilt for them is removed. We can be forgiven
   yet still have to suffer. (A parent might accept a teenager's apology
   and forgive him, but the teenager could still be "grounded" for the
   weekend. Nothing unfair in that; the kid needs to be taught a lesson.)
   
    Reduction of Punishment
    
   Suffering can be undergone after death, in purgatory, or during life.
   It can take many forms here. One form is the ecclesiastical penalty
   given to us as a penance during the sacrament of confession. Working
   backwards, the Church came to realize that, since penances can be
   reduced if the penitent expresses sufficient sorrow and does some
   pious act, it must be that punishments after death can be reduced the
   same way.
   
   The constitution on indulgences emphasizes the social aspect of sin,
   how it affects the Mystical Body of Christ (cf. Rom. 12:5; 1 Cor.
   12:12-21, 26). Just as a drop of water send ripples throughout the
   whole lake, into all its corners, so sin by one man affects all who
   are bound to Christ. "It is therefore necessary for the full remission
   and . . . reparation of sins not only that friendship with God be
   re-established by a sincere conversion of mind and amends made for the
   offense against his wisdom and goodness, but also that all the
   personal as well as social values and those of the universal order
   itself, which have been diminished or destroyed by sin, be fully
   reintegrated whether through voluntary reparation which will involve
   punishment or through acceptance of the punishments established by the
   just and most holy wisdom of God."
   
   After all, "there reigns among men . . . a supernatural solidarity
   whereby the sin of one harms the others just as the holiness of one
   benefits the others. Thus the Christian faithful give each other
   mutual aid to attain their supernatural aim" (cf. Col. 1:24). An
   example of this solidarity is the way Adam's sin infected the whole
   human race. He fell, and we continue to suffer from his fall. This is
   the clearest example, but, if Christ's references to the vine mean
   anything--if we're really the branches--then we're all related to one
   another. Spiritual disease in one branch must affect the other
   branches.
   
    Good Works Work Well
    
   Conversely, restoration to health in one branch must affect the
   others. Good works that can reduce our own punishment must be able to
   be applied to other people. This is especially true of the works of
   the saints, who more than compensated for their own faults and whose
   "extra" good works, not being wasted, are available for application to
   others. (Also available are the infinite merits of Jesus Christ.)
   
   Paul understood this. He wrote to the Colossians that "Now I rejoice
   in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is
   lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the
   Church" (Col. 1:24). We can help one another now, and we can help
   those who are no longer here, and the saints can help us, too (Rev.
   5:8). If the Mystical Body implies anything, it must imply that. It
   must mean the saints can pray for us and we can pray for (and do
   penances for) the souls in purgatory. If it doesn't imply that, then
   the solidarity of the Mystical Body of Christ is a sham.
   
    Under the Holy Spirit
    
   From these considerations came "the conviction . . . that the pastors
   of the flock of the Lord could set the individual free from the
   vestiges of sin by applying the merits of Christ and of the saints."
   Under the influence of the Holy Spirit, working in the Church over
   centuries, there arose the use of indulgences, "which represented a
   progression in the doctrine and discipline of the Church rather than a
   change."
   
   In the earliest centuries penances were severe. Today a sinner might
   be given a few prayers to recite or some charitable act to perform.
   Then, a sinner might be commanded to stand outside the church door for
   a year, asking those going to Mass to pray for him and acknowledging
   to them his sins.
   
   It was a tough regimen, and it was one the confessor could ameliorate
   by reducing the remainder of the penance if the penitent performed
   pious acts. The penitent's punishment in this life was lessened
   through a kind of indulgence. Over the years, the Church came to
   understand that the merits of Christ and the saints could be applied
   to lessen the left-over punishment that would come in purgatory, the
   punishment that wouldn't be endured here.
   
   "The aim pursued by ecclesiastical authority in granting indulgences,"
   continues the constitution, "is not only that of helping the faithful
   to expiate the punishment due sin but also that of urging them to
   perform works of piety, penitence, and charity--particularly those
   which lead to growth in faith and which favor the common good."
   
   In other words, not only do indulgences reduce the actual punishment
   deserved, but the performance of the acts that entitle us to
   indulgences helps us grow spiritually by getting us into the habit of
   doing good works, things we otherwise might not do.
   
    Keys of the Kingdom
    
   The origin of the Church's power regarding indulgences may be traced
   to the granting to Peter of the keys and of the power of binding and
   loosing (Matt. 16:19). This "judicial" authority, if it means anything
   at all, must be more than a mere declaratory power. Non-Catholics
   argue that Peter, with the other apostles, was given only a power to
   declare sins already forgiven, but Matthew 16:19, 18:18, and John
   20:21-23 say nothing about restricting the grant to mere declarations.
   They refer to a grant of an active power, one that decides, the kind
   of power a judge has.
   
   This power, coupled with the solidarity of the Mystical Body of
   Christ, results in the doctrine of indulgences. Although the doctrine
   is not stated in the Bible in the detail now given in Church
   pronouncements (neither are the doctrines of the Incarnation and the
   Trinity explicitly stated there as they are understood by Catholics
   and Protestants), indulgences are not only not contrary to what the
   Bible says, but they follow naturally from our taking into account the
   whole of the Bible.
   
   
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      Last modified May 25, 1996.