WORLD HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Basically, by purchasing an indulgence, an individual could reduce the length and severity of punishment that heaven would require as payment for their sins, or so the church claimed. Buy an indulgence for a loved one, and they would go to heaven and not burn in hell.

Detailed explanation-2: -What is an indulgence? An indulgence is the full or partial remission of temporal punishment for sins after the sinner confesses and receives absolution. Under Catholic teaching, every sin must be purified either here on earth or after death in a state called purgatory.

Detailed explanation-3: -While reasserting the place of indulgences in the salvific process, the Council of Trent condemned “all base gain for securing indulgences” in 1563, and Pope Pius V abolished the sale of indulgences in 1567. The system and its underlying theology otherwise remained intact.

Detailed explanation-4: -Indulgences did more than help pay for the basilica, however. The abusive means of selling indulgences, including lies from priests and the papacy about their efficacy, resulted in an uprising, led by Martin Luther of Germany, and the result was the Reformation and split in the Church.

Detailed explanation-5: -Indulgences were a piece of paper from the Church that was supposed to lessen a person’s time in purgatory and help them get to heaven faster. Luther disagreed with this, saying that buying indulgences had no impact on whether or not people would go to heaven.