WORLD HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -One particularly well-known Catholic method of exploitation in the Middle Ages was the practice of selling indulgences, a monetary payment of penalty which, supposedly, absolved one of past sins and/or released one from purgatory after death.

Detailed explanation-2: -An indulgence is a remission of the punishment of sin. Absolution alone, granted by a priest, is not enough to wipe the slate clean; a person is temporally punished for the sins accumulated in life, so an indulgence is a way to reduce that.

Detailed explanation-3: -The Roman Catholic Church sold “letters of indulgence”. They were sold to people with the understanding that it would decrease the time one’s soul spends in purgatory. The higher the amount paid, the lesser the time spent in purgatory. The Church accumulated a lot of wealth this way.

Detailed explanation-4: -This doctrine was codified in the late Middle Ages, in 1343, by Pope Clement VI. By the time of Luther, certificates of indulgences were being sold to raise money on behalf of important patrons like the pope, who needed funds to build St. Peter’s Basilica.

Detailed explanation-5: -In the Catholic Church, the Apostolic Pardon is an indulgence given for the remission of temporal punishment due to sin. The Apostolic Pardon is given by a priest, usually along with Viaticum (i.e. reception of Communion by a dying person, see Pastoral Care of the Sick, USA numbers 184, 187, 195, 201).