What Are Indulgences?

[Disciple_of_God]

I am new to the Catholic faith and was wondering what indulgences are. I have read a lot about what they are not but I have not found anything that specifically explains what they are and where they came form. Is it biblical or did the Church make it up? Please help.

 

[Genesis315]

Check out this thread:

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=43453&highlight=indulgences

 

[atsheeran]

Disciple of God:

I am new to the Catholic faith and was wondering what indulgences are. I have read a lot about what they are not but I have not found anything that specifically explains what they are and where they came form. Is it biblical or did the Church make it up? Please help.

The Church does not make anything up. She receives from God the two sources of divine revelation: the Apostolic Tradition and Sacred Scripture.

The following is from the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

80 “Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture, then, are bound closely together, and communicate one with the other. For both of them, flowing out from the same divine well-spring, come together in some fashion to form one thing, and move towards the same goal.” Each of them makes present and fruitful in the Church the mystery of Christ, who promised to remain with his own “always, to the close of the age”.

. . . two distinct modes of transmission

81 “Sacred Scripture is the speech of God as it is put down in writing under the breath of the Holy Spirit.”

“and [Holy] Tradition transmits in its entirety the Word of God which has been entrusted to the apostles by Christ the Lord and the Holy Spirit. It transmits it to the successors of the apostles so that, enlightened by the Spirit of truth, they may faithfully preserve, expound and spread it abroad by their preaching.”

82 As a result the Church, to whom the transmission and interpretation of Revelation is entrusted, "does not derive her certainty about all revealed truths from the holy Scriptures alone. Both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honoured with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence.

Now to your question. Here is another bit from the Catechism (an invaluable source!) defining Indulgences:

1471 The doctrine and practice of indulgences in the Church are closely linked to the effects of the sacrament of Penance.

What is an indulgence?

“An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions through the action of the Church which, as the minister of redemption, dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions of Christ and the saints.”
“An indulgence is partial or plenary according as it removes either part or all of the temporal punishment due to sin.” Indulgences may be applied to the living or the dead.

 

[Sir_Knight]

Use the search feature – there have been many informative threads on indulgences including this one.

 

[awalt]

Re: “The Church does not make anything up. She receives from God the two sources of divine revelation: the Apostolic Tradition and Sacred Scripture.”

Just sharing what I have learned - In the Catholic Way, approved introductory book on the CCC, it states there are actually three sources - the Scripture, Apostolic Tradition, and the teachings of Jesus. Just a different way of saying it I guess…

 

[atsheeran]

awalt:

Re: “The Church does not make anything up. She receives from God the two sources of divine revelation: the Apostolic Tradition and Sacred Scripture.”

Just sharing what I have learned - In the Catholic Way, approved introductory book on the CCC, it states there are actually three sources - the Scripture, Apostolic Tradition, and the teachings of Jesus. Just a different way of saying it I guess…

I don’t want to hijack this thread, but I’ll make a quick point:

We get the teachings of Jesus from Sacred Scripture and the Apostolic Tradition. We’ve no other (reliable) source for the teachings of Jesus but these two.