Indulgentiarum doctrina

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With the apostolic constitution Indulgentiarum doctrina of January 1, 1967, Pope Paul VI. the reorganization of indulgences .

In a few introductory chapters, Paul VI. summarizes the doctrine of indulgences of the Roman Catholic Church , which had existed in the Church for many centuries, and cites as its foundation the divine revelation as it was passed on to the apostles .

In the fourth chapter the Pope discusses the special role of the Popes in obtaining indulgences, since the Redeemer himself commissioned them to feed and lead his Church. If the Church makes use of her authority as a servant in Christ's work of redemption at the indulgence, she not only pray, but authoritatively allocate to the properly prepared Christian believer the treasure of the pleasures of Christ and the saints as a remission of the temporal punishments of sin. Abuses in the past such as the indiscriminate and superfluous granting of indulgences would have led to the disregard of the church's key power, to the weakening of penance and atonement, and “pernicious addiction to profit” to blasphemy of indulgence.

The motives for granting indulgences are to be highly valued, however, since the knowledge that they cannot atone for evil on their own encourages the believer to be wholesome humility. In obtaining indulgences, believers recognize that they cannot atone for the evil that they have done to themselves and to the whole community through their sin. And so they are stimulated to healing humility. The use of indulgences is also an instrument of charity and contributes to the sanctification of the whole Church.

With a warning to the faithful not to “abandon the doctrine of indulgences or to disregard it, but rather to accept it in reverence as a valuable treasure of the Catholic family and to follow it”, the Pope goes over to the norms of the new order, which are intended to be the To give indulgences "more dignity and respect". The twenty points of the reorganization include, among other things, the reduction of the number of perfect indulgences, changes in the stipulations of imperfect indulgences, stipulations for indulgences gained several times in a day toties quoties and the granting of perfect indulgences in the hour of death.

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Individual evidence

  1. ↑ ID, No. 8