...a soul from purgatory springs - Tetzel
The pope has unlimited power to free souls from purgatory through granting indulgences to the living. He can apply the excess merit of Mary and the saints from the “treasury of merit” to either shorten or eliminate the time a Catholic spends in the torment of purgatory. The means that the pope uses is to prescribe prayers and good works that living Catholics can perform - such as visiting a cemetery on a particular day or taking a pilgrimage.
Misinformation related to indulgences abounds. “Evangelical” Chuck Colson writes in his book The Body: “The Reformers, for example, assailed the corrupt practices of indulgences; today they [indulgences] are gone.” Well, this is an ecumenical lie – the corrupt practice is alive and well. A detailed discussion by Catholic apologist James Akin affirms the matter of indulgences, and the anathema placed upon those who disagree. Check out the Manual of Indulgences at Amazon – published by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2006 – a concise 160 pages!
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Indulgence. A remission of the temporal punishment due to sin, the guilt of which has already been forgiven. Catholics are given a clean slate through the sacrament of Baptism. Baptism removes both the guilt and punishment for sin. For all sin committed after Baptism, a temporal penalty remains, and must be paid for on earth or in purgatory. The Pope has been given the office of doling out indulgences from a heavenly bank account known as the Treasury of Merit. This treasury consists of the righteousness of Jesus, plus the excess righteousness of Mary and the Saints. Indulgences are provided for the benefit of the living, who can then transfer them to family and friends in purgatory if they wish. A plenary indulgence remits all existing penalties for those alive. A partial indulgence pays for only part of the accrued penalties. Since only God knows the exact amount of punishment due to those in Purgatory, a plenary indulgence is more in the nature of a petition rather than an assurance of complete payment. The pope’s jurisdiction only extends to the living. Typically, the Pope offers indulgences for taking a pilgrimage, for using a particular sacramental (such as a rosary or medal), or for performing penitential activities such as fasting or abstinence.
Indulgences deny that Jesus paid the entire penalty for sin (Heb 10:10Heb 10:10
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10 by which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.). By faith and repentance a person is permanently reconciled to God (Rom 5:1Rom 5:1
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1 Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ;). Salvation is not on the installment plan whereby the Church dribbles out “capital infusions.” There is no “treasury of excess merit,” since God requires perfection (Lk 17:10Lk 17:10
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10 Even so you also, when you have done all the things that are commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy servants. We have done our duty.’”, Mt 5:48Mt 5:48
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48 Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.). All who trust in Jesus receive the same amount of righteousness imputed to their account, because it is the infinite righteousness of God, not their own righteousness (Mt 20:1-16Mt 20:1-16
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1 “For the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who was the master of a household, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.
2 When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius A denarius is a silver Roman coin worth 1/25th of a Roman aureus. This was a common wage for a day of farm labor. a day, he sent them into his vineyard.
3 He went out about the third hour, Time was measured from sunrise to sunset, so the third hour would be about AM. and saw others standing idle in the marketplace.
4 To them he said, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went their way.
5 Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, noon and P. M. and did likewise.
6 About the eleventh hour PM he went out, and found others standing idle. He said to them, ‘Why do you stand here all day idle?’
7 “They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’
“He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and you will receive whatever is right.’
8 When evening had come, the lord of the vineyard said to his steward, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning from the last to the first.’
9 “When those who were hired at about the eleventh hour came, they each received a denarius.
10 When the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise each received a denarius.
11 When they received it, they murmured against the master of the household,
12 saying, ‘These last have spent one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat!’
13 “But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Didn’t you agree with me for a denarius?
14 Take that which is yours, and go your way. It is my desire to give to this last just as much as to you.
15 Isn’t it lawful for me to do what I want to with what I own? Or is your eye evil, because I am good?’
16 So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few are chosen.”, Rom 10:4Rom 10:4
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4 For Christ is the fulfillment or, completion, or end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.). Indulgences, Purgatory, and the Treasury of Merit are Roman Catholic fictions that provide false hope and at the same time deny the finished work of Jesus.
The Manual of Indulgences, approved by the Holy See, was published in 2006 by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). The book is a 160 page explanation of indulgences. Here are some of the rules:
