Catholic Terms that Aren’t as Bad as They Sound: Indulgences

“I’ll have a Double Double, Animal Style, and forgiveness for last week’s bank robbery”

What it means: An indulgence is when God removes the temporary consequences of sins you’ve already been forgiven due to an abundance of prayers or charitable work.

What it sounds like: (A) Allowing yourself to smash the world’s largest banana split, or, (B) Buying forgiveness for sins from a corrupt holy man.

The Church gives indulgences to help relieve temporal punishment — that lingering damage from sin — because Jesus and the saints lived lives so full of love, sacrifice, and grace that the Church can share those spiritual benefits with the rest of us. Think of it like drawing from a heavenly bank account of grace.

Wait… What’s Temporal Punishment?

Glad you asked!

Example: Let’s say you break your mom’s favorite lamp.

• You say sorry, and she forgives you — that’s like Confession.

• But the lamp is still broken — that’s the damage, or temporal effect.

You still have to clean it up or fix it. Maybe you do chores to pay for a new one. That’s like penance or an indulgence — it helps repair what your sin messed up.

You can apply an indulgence to your own soul to help heal the temporal effects of your forgiven sins, or, you can offer an indulgence for someone who has died in purgatory to help them on their journey toward Heaven.

Early Church Throwback: Jailhouse Intercession

Back in the early days of the Church, some Christians were thrown into prison because of their faith. While they were in jail, other Christians who had sinned and felt really sorry would sometimes ask those prisoners to write a letter to the bishop for them.

The letter would basically say:

“Hey Bishop, I’ve suffered a lot for Jesus here in prison. I know someone who’s truly sorry for their sins … could you be a little easier on their punishment because of the suffering I’ve offered up for Christ?”

Pretty cool act of humility and sacrifice.

The Abuse: When Indulgences Went Off the Rails

In the 1400’s and 1500’s, some Church leaders and preachers exploited indulgences for money. They claimed people could “buy their way into Heaven” or get their dead relatives out of purgatory just by donating cash.

The most famous example is Johann Tetzel, who sold indulgences with catchy lines like:

“As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs!”

What a scumbag.

These kinds of abuses outraged many, including Marty Luther, whose 95 Theses were largely written in protest of the misuse of indulgences, not the idea itself.

The Church’s Response:

The Catholic Church officially condemned the sale of indulgences at the Council of Trent (1545–1563). Later reforms, especially under Pope Paul VI, clarified the practice further, stressing that indulgences can’t be sold, traded, or used as “spiritual shortcuts.”

-Mission Ready Faith