The corruption of the Church.

That is exaggerated, and I don't see why the Catholic Church should be singled out here.  I'd go ahead and make this statement: the Catholic Church did have elements of corruption, but wasn't particularly so.

One thing we need to keep in mind is that history is always studied from hindsight.  In the Renaissance, Europeans went through classical revivals.  The idea that the Middle Ages were the "Dark Ages" was an idea of this time -- it was an effort to galvanize classical revivalist movements and to posit an opposite ideal against which the classicists strived.  Subsequent centuries of European histories saw similar trends of characterizing the past to justify the present.  Protestantism, nationalism, and capitalism led to a rethinking of the Medieval past, which was then interpreted as backward and corrupt in order to highlight the successes of modernity.

The thing regarding indulgences: the Catholic Church never issued the sales of indulgences.  It was the incorrect practices of some clergies (many of them probably weren't trying to overtly get money.  they were probably giving penances in forms of donations to the Church.)  When the issue of the sale of indulgences came up, the Church banned their sales.  (Penances in forms of donations were also banned I think.)  In keeping with an incident recorded in the Bible, where St. Peter condemned Simon the Magician for offering the Apostles money in exchange for having the powers of the Holy Spirit conferred upon him, the Catholic Church has never allowed sales of anything sacred -- everything from a blessed holy image to indulgences.  The idea of indulgence isn't "tickets to Heaven;" the idea was that every sin entails some temporary consequences that must be expiated, and those who died without expiation of venial sins and temporary consequences of sins, but nonetheless died in the state of grace and without mortal sin, would stay in purgatory temporary for expiation, upon the completion of which one would be released from Purgatory and goes to Heaven (contrary to some misunderstanding, Purgatory isn't a middle ground for the "not so good, not so bad" people.  It's a temporary station prior to Heaven for those who are saved.)  Hence indulgences (usually in forms of prayers) were granted to the faithful for expiation in order to lesson time spent in Purgatory.  (In other words, an indulgence might be granted by the pope that one prays a number of prayers, and by doing so one gains full or some expiation, depending on whether the person meets several requirements.)  Whether or not we agree with Catholic Theology is one thing -- we need to be clear that indulgences are not what many people mistaken them to be.

Peace,

Michael

12-8-2004