Do you even care? Must I run through every apologetic response to every anti-Catholic talking point, just for the sake of it?
Purgatory exists. It exists to purify those in need of purification before entering heaven. Obviously, the fewer impurities we permit within us prior to death, the less purification is required in Purgatory.
Not everyone is going to actively pursue sainthood in this life, bolstering the supernatural virtues and taking meaningful action to remove the impurities within them at the source.
Small and minor acts of charity and piety, at least, can serve to remove some small amounts of time required to purify the impurities in Purgatory.
The Church has been given authority in heaven and on earth by God to "bind and loose" ().
So the Church has the authority to declare, at different times and under different circumstances, that certain acts will serve to remove certain amounts of time one would spend in Purgatory, by virtue of the charity and piety of the act. So the Church can declare that "praying five decades of the Rosary during this liturgical year will remit 5 days in Purgatory", and thus someone who prays the Rosary every day of that year will be spared 1,825 days in Purgatory.
If the Church or territories sympathetic to the Church are being threatened by Muslim hordes, then the Church can declare that "a tithe made of this amount or more will remit one year in Purgatory", so that the Church can use those funds to raise a defensive army and protect Her interests. Insofar as the Church's interests are heavenly interests, this kind of action is licit. Given that the Church is true, Her temporal strength and safety is no insignificant matter, and so in times of needs awarding indulgences for such financial support is not at all unreasonable, given that She has the authority to do so.
Men like Luther and those who followed him misunderstood (intentionally or through incredible error) the doctrine on indulgences, and accused to Church of "selling salvation". This is not even remotely the case; the Church is not selling access to Purgatory or heaven, but specifying acts of charity and piety that can reduce the time a soul spends in Purgatory, given that they were able to enter Purgatory in the first place. The salvation of any given soul is entirely independent of whether or not they have received indulgences.
Do you even care?
No.
Must I run through every apologetic response to every anti-Catholic talking point, just for the sake of it?
Maybe for .
certain acts will serve to remove certain amounts of time one would spend in Purgatory
My understanding was that beef with indulgences was that people would buy them on behalf of OTHERS, like a mother who lost her son buying indulgences FOR HIM! This seems like exploitation of love, whereas buying indulgences for oneself merely seems like an exploitation of fear.
My understanding was that beef with indulgences was that people would buy them on behalf of OTHERS, like a mother who lost her son buying indulgences FOR HIM! This seems like exploitation of love, whereas buying indulgences for oneself merely seems like an exploitation of fear.
The merits of the saints can help us attain salvation, and so if the piety and charity of one can help oneself reduce temporal suffering, it is not unreasonable to suggest that such pious or charitable actions can help others accomplish the same - though I'm not as familiar with that particular side of this issue.
If a saint vouches for us, that's his decision, and that decision isn't motivated by exploitation of love, as is the case with the mother and son.
(post is archived)