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S i d e b a r
MYTHS ABOUT INDULGENCES
By James Akin
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This Rock
Volume 5, Number 11
 November 1994 
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Myth 1: A person can buy his way out of hell with
indulgences.
This is a common misunderstanding, one that anti-Catholic
commentators take advantage of, relying on the ignorance of both Catholics
and non-Catholics. But the charge is without foundation. Since indulgences
remit only temporal penalties, they cannot remit the eternal penalty
of hell. Once a person is in hell, no amount of indulgences will ever
change that fact. The only way to avoid hell is by appealing to God's
eternal mercy while still alive. After death, one's eternal fate is
set (Heb. 9:27).
Myth 2: A person can buy indulgences for sins
not yet committed.
The Church has always taught that indulgences do not apply
to sins not yet committed. The Catholic Encyclopedia notes,
"[An indulgence] is not a permission to commit sin, nor a pardon
of future sin; neither could be granted by any power."
Myth 3: A person can "buy forgiveness"
with indulgences.
The definition of indulgences presupposes that forgiveness
has already taken place: "An indulgence is a remission before
God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already
been forgiven" (Indulgentarium Doctrina norm 1). Indulgences
in no way forgive sins. They deal only with punishments left after
sins have been forgiven.
Myth 4: Indulgences were invented to money for
the Church.
Indulgences developed from reflection on the sacrament
of reconciliation. They are a way of shortening the penance of sacramental
discipline and were in use centuries before money-related problems
appeared.
Myth 5: An indulgence will shorten your time in
purgatory by a fixed number of days.
The number of days which used to be attached to indulgences
were references to the period of penance one might undergo during
life on earth. The Catholic Church does not claim to know anything
about how long or short purgatory is in general, much less in a specific
person's case.
Myth 6: A person can buy indulgences.
The Council of Trent instituted severe reforms in the
practice of granting indulgences, and, because of prior abuses, "in
1567 Pope Pius V canceled all grants of indulgences involving any
fees or other financial transactions" (Catholic Encyclopedia).
This act proved the Church's seriousness about removing abuses from
indulgences.
Myth 7: A person used to be able to buy indulgences.
One never could "buy" indulgences. The financial
scandal around indulgences, the scandal that gave Martin Luther an
excuse for his heterodoxy, involved alms-indulgences in which the
giving of alms to some charitable fund or foundation was used as the
occasion to grant the indulgence. There was no outright selling of
indulgences. The Catholic Encyclopedia states: "[I]t is easy
to see how abuses crept in. Among the good works which might be encouraged
by being made the condition of an indulgence, almsgiving would naturally
hold a conspicuous place. . . It is well to observe that in these
purposes there is nothing essentially evil. To give money to God or
to the poor is a praiseworthy act, and, when it is done from right
motives, it will surely not go unrewarded."
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