Lots of non-, lapsed- and anti- Catholics make a great to-do about the indulgences sold by The Church in the Middle Ages. The feelings of self-righteousness and moral superiority that still emerge when the subject is discussed among Protestants were, and are, so thoroughly enjoyable that they were a major reason that their denominations came into being.
Lots of indulgences were sold because a great deal of money had to be raised to rebuild the Vatican. The “Old Vatican” had been standing for 1,200 years. Parts of it were falling down, and the whole structure needed to be rebuilt. To pay for it, The Church sold indulgences. They were like “Get into Heaven Practically Free” cards in a game of spiritual Monopoly.
Those who criticize the selling of indulgences do not adequately consider how much spiritual and temporal power was given to The Church. And, they do not realize how much power Jesus, Who gave The Church that power, had and continues to have. It was Jesus, the Second Person of The Trinity, the Living Son of God, Who, Himself, told the disciples, the first bishops, “Whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven; whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven.” No Christian can believe that Jesus would lie, so The Church has the power to forgive sins. The more that we think about that, the more power we realize He had and continues to have and to exercise.
Jesus gave His chosen disciples the most awesome power on earth. The greatest earthly court can only take away a life that wouldn’t have lasted much more than seventy years after execution. The Church has the power to sentence to an eternity of joy or agony.
She renounces any use of that authority that would result in decisions being made that were not the result of free will.
The Church could tell the richest five percent of Catholics in any nation: “Your Bishop has instructed us to send an accountant to your home or office, total up your assets, and assess you ten percent of your net worth. If you refuse to cooperate, The Church is going to excommunicate you for being selfish, and you know what that means.”
The Church could do that, but chooses not to do so. She makes it clear that if a person freely gives to The Church, that there may be favorable results, but never uses force. She obviously values free will more than material gain.
All in all, The Church’s decision to sell indulgences, which anyone could freely decide whether or not to purchase, rather than to extort funds with the threat of automatic excommunication, makes Her look a lot better than organizations that don’t mind taking money from citizens at the point of a gun for what they pretend is “for your own good”.
