The church is catholic, universal, so are all her actions; all that she does, belongs to all. When she baptizes a child, that action concerns me; for that child is thereby connected to that head which is my head too, and ingraffed into that body, whereof I am a member … all mankind is of one author, and is one volume. —John Donne
When Pope Francis publicly appeared for the first time on the day of his election, one thing he did was give a blessing to the crowd. Just before, it was announced that everyone who received it, whether there in person or over the air, could receive a plenary indulgence.
Now, of all Catholic doctrines and practices, one hears perhaps the least about indulgences. As far as I can remember, I have not heard a single homily that mentioned them, nor learned about them in religious instruction. There is a kind of vague embarrassment about indulgences, probably since the only thing people know about them is they were associated with scandal that precipitated the Protestant Reformation. However, while many grievous abuses related to indulgences were reformed during the Council of Trent, they have always remained a part of the Catholic Church. What are indulgences, and why might we consider taking them seriously today?
