Confusion on Indulgence

[Cody]

Greetings everyone,

I was reading about the indulgence that the pope issued for December 08 that is found here:
cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=40979
And I have a question on this part of the article: “Indulgences can be decreed by the Pope or, under certain restrictions, bishops. The faithful can obtain indulgences for themselves or for the souls in Purgatory.”
What exactly does an indulgence have to do for a soul in Purgatory?

 

[LilyM]

Greetings everyone,

I was reading about the indulgence that the pope issued for December 08 that is found here:
cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=40979
And I have a question on this part of the article: “Indulgences can be decreed by the Pope or, under certain restrictions, bishops. The faithful can obtain indulgences for themselves or for the souls in Purgatory.”
What exactly does an indulgence have to do for a soul in Purgatory?

An indulgence is a remission of the temporal punishment (non-eternal consequences) of sin.

Souls in purgatory are there because they are ‘working off’ (so to speak) their unpaid temporal debts. So we can apply the merits we earn to them to help them in this.