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YoungTradCath
Guest
There are two kinds of punishment for sin: spiritual punishment and temporal punishment. Spiritual punishment is the punishment that condemns us to hell and separates us from God, and is forgiven by confession. This is what is commonly thought of when someone mentions “sin.” Protestants believe in it, too. Temporal punishment is a concept that I’m not aware of being present in any Protestant denomination. Temporal punishment is the punishment that is “taken out on us” or “administered to us” when we go to Purgatory. The sacrament of confession does not forgive temporal punishment. Temporal punishment is released from your soul by doing indulgences, which are granted due to the pope’s power to the “keys to the kingdom.” He is the person that “makes up” new indulgences, so to speak.It seems wrong to me that we could help people so much–but it’s not common knowledge. Maybe it’s because I’m only 17, but my mom hadn’t ever heard of this either, and she’s a pretty good Catholic.
So… is an indulgence simply remission of sin? What exactly does it mean when you say “people do do [indulgences]” and “if you’re present to hear… you are granted indulgence”?
There are two kinds of indulgences: partial and plenary. Partial indulgences forgive a part of temporal punishment that you have accrued, and are very easy to get. Plenary indulgences forgive all temporal punishment you have accrued, and are comparatively extremely hard to get. To get a partial indulgence, you just have to do the act that is assigned to it. To get a plenary indulgence, you have to do the act assigned to it, plus all the other things that I listed in my first post. If you fail to do one of the parts, then the plenary indulgence “turns into” a partial indulgence.
When I said, “People do do indulgences,” I mean that people still actually do them even though they’re not widely known about anymore. When I mentioned the Urbi et Orbi, I meant that if you are present to hear the speech, you are granted the indulgence. There is a part of some speeches the pope gives called the Urbi et Orbi. It’s a blessing, of sorts. If you are present to hear it, you are granted a plenary indulgence by the pope. That’s just one example of several plenary indulgences you can receive, though.