 An indulgence provides "the remission or limited release from the temporal punishments one must suffer in this life or in purgatory for the sins a person has committed." Indulgences can even be granted to souls already in purgatory to shorten their stay. Both penance and indulgences originated during the Middle Ages and have been commonly associated with fraud and corruption.At times, Rome has openly sold indulgences to raise revenues. Money raised from the selling of indulgences by emissaries appointed by Pope Leo X (1513-21 AD) helped finance the construction of St. Peter's Basilica. It was the public selling of them by Friar Tetzel, who claimed that "a soul is released from purgatory and carried to heaven as soon as the money tinkles in the box", that outraged Martin Luther and helped launch the Protestant Reformation in 1517 AD. |
