Short Answer: Did the Church Ever Sell Indulgences?

Dear Apologist, is it true that the Church once sold indulgences? 


In a word.... No.

The version of history we learned in school is filled with myths introduced by the anti-Catholicism of early America.  Here is the real story:

Indulgences are a spiritual good which are obtained by doing certain acts of piety.  These may include particular prayers, reading scripture, going on pilgrimage, or receiving a special blessing.

Another pious act for which one used to be able to receive an indulgence is almsgiving.  That is to say, giving money to a charitable cause was something for which you could receive an indulgence.

On its own this is perfectly appropriate because almsgiving is a very holy thing.  After all, it was Jesus who said:

"Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? But rather give alms of such things as you have - and, behold, all things are clean to you." - Luke 11:40-41

However it does not take much imagination to see how the presence of money would corrupt the practice of almsgiving indulgences.  And indeed, that is precisely what happened.

In the early 1500's, a deacon named Johann Tetzel began marketing almsgiving indulgences in a way which pretty much amounted to selling them. This was an abuse which became notorious throughout the whole of Western Christendom.  So in 1563 the twenty fifth session of the Council of Trent banned almsgiving indulgences to prevent this from happening again.  It decreed:

"And desiring to amend and correct the abuses which have crept in, this Council decrees that all evil profit for the obtaining of indulgences, which are the cause of the most prolific abuses, be wholly abolished."  - Council of Trent, Session 25, Chapter 21

So it would not be accurate to say “the Church sold indulgences".  It was never an act of a pope or the universal magisterium.  Rather one should say that a Catholic cleric abused the practice of almsgiving indulgences suchwise that it became the functional equivalent of a purchase.  The Church then took steps to prevent this in the future.  

This is certainly more of a mouthful, but knowing the truer, messier story is the only antidote to the simplistic anti-Catholic myth.