Section II. On the Concession of Indulgences

I. Existence of the power in the Church of granting indulgences. That the power of dispensing indulgences belongs to the Church is of faith from Trent;¹ and it follows from the power which Christ conferred on the Church of remitting sins and opening the kingdom of heaven to believers;² for to the perfect remission of sin and to the opening of the kingdom of heaven there also belongs the removal of temporal punishment still remaining after the guilt of sins has been remitted. That this power can be used outside the conferral of the sacrament is clear from the general sense of the words, which also contain the power of teaching and of making laws; and this certainly has place outside the sacrament. Besides this, the whole tradition from the first centuries has recognized this power in the Church.³

¹ Council of Trent, session 25, Decree on Indulgences.

² Matthew 16:18.

³ Cf. Fanfani, cited work, p. 19-22.

II. Subject of the power. The Supreme Pontiff alone, by his own and full right, can grant indulgences (canon 912). The reason is that he, and he alone, can dispose of the common treasury of the Church to whom the government of the whole Church has been committed. Now the Supreme Pontiff commonly exercises the said power through the Sacred Penitentiary, whose office it is to judge all those things which regard the use and concession of indulgences, without prejudice to the right of the Holy Office to see to those things which regard dogmatic doctrine concerning the same indulgences or concerning new prayers and devotions (canon 258, § 2). Those inferior to the Supreme Pontiff can dispense indulgences by ordinary power only insofar as this has been expressly granted to them by law. Now the law states:

1. As regards a plenary indulgence.

a) Bishops, each in his own diocese, can impart the papal blessing with a plenary indulgence, according to the prescribed formula, twice a year, that is, on the solemn day of the Resurrection at Easter and on another solemn feast day designated by themselves, even if they have only assisted at the solemn Mass (canon 914). If some Bishop has several dioceses to be governed, he cannot, by his own right, transfer in one of them to another day the papal blessing attached to Easter of the Resurrection.¹

b) Abbots or Prelates nullius, Apostolic Vicars and Prefects, even if they lack episcopal dignity, can do the same, namely impart the papal blessing with a plenary indulgence according to the prescribed formula, in their territories on only one of the more solemn days during the year (cited canon).

c) Regulars who have the privilege of imparting the papal blessing are not only bound by the obligation of observing the prescribed formula, but also cannot use this privilege except in their own churches and in the churches of nuns or tertiaries lawfully aggregated to their Order; but not on the same day and in the same place² where the Bishop imparts it (canon 915).³

d) A pastor or another priest who assists the sick has the faculty of granting to them the apostolic blessing with a plenary indulgence at the point of death, according to the form handed down by approved liturgical books, and he should not omit to impart this blessing (canon 468, § 2).

e) Bishops, Abbots or Prelates nullius, Apostolic Vicars and Prefects, and major Superiors of exempt clerical religious institutes can designate and declare one daily perpetual privileged altar, provided another is not already had, in their cathedral, abbatial, collegiate, conventual, parochial, and quasi-parochial churches, but not in public or semi-public oratories, unless they are united to a parish church or are subsidiary to it (canon 916).

2. As regards partial indulgences.

a) Cardinals, from their promotion in Consistory, enjoy the faculty of granting indulgences of two hundred days, even to be gained as often as often, in places or institutes and for persons of their jurisdiction or protection; likewise in other places, but to be gained only by those present, on each occasion (canon 239, § 1, 24°).

b) Metropolitans or Archbishops can grant indulgences of one hundred days both in their own diocese and in suffragan dioceses (canon 274, 2°).

c) Residential Bishops, from taking possession of the diocese, enjoy the right of granting indulgences of fifty days in places of their jurisdiction (canon 349, § 2, 2°). But the words "in places of their jurisdiction" are not to be understood so that Bishops are prohibited from granting indulgences to exempt religious or in their churches.⁴

d) Apostolic Vicars and Prefects, even those who lack episcopal character, possess the same faculty as residential Bishops (canon 294, § 2).

e) The consecrating Bishop, when a church or altar is consecrated, even though he lacks jurisdiction in the territory, grants an indulgence of one year to those visiting the church or altar on the day of the consecration itself; but on the anniversary day, one of fifty days if he is a Bishop, one hundred if an Archbishop, and two hundred if a Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church (canon 1166, § 3). Capitular Vicars and Vicars General lack ordinary power of granting indulgences, since the Law does not enumerate them. They therefore, like the others not enumerated above, cannot grant indulgences except by commission or delegation of the Supreme Pontiff or of another to whom the faculty of delegating has been expressly granted.

f) What Nuncios can do is to be drawn from their letters.

Note 1. Those inferior to the Roman Pontiff cannot: 1. commit to others the faculty of granting indulgences, unless this has been expressly granted to them by the Apostolic See; 2. grant indulgences applicable to the departed; 3. add other indulgences to the same thing or act of piety or sodality to which indulgences have already been granted by the Apostolic See or by another, unless new conditions to be fulfilled are prescribed (canon 913).

Note 2. Generals of Orders and Prelates of Religious, having regard to common law, enjoy no power of issuing Indulgences; but some of them have the privilege of reserving to themselves and of granting to others the faculty of imparting certain blessings - for example, the blessing of a rosary of the Most Holy Rosary - to which Indulgences are attached.⁵

¹ A.A.S. XXII, p. 195.

² Cited place: in the city, town (Brief of Leo XIII, July 2, 1882).

³ Here, however, the matter is not the papal blessing which religious missionaries are permitted to impart at the end of missions or in similar circumstances, but the privilege by which regulars, without another condition of function, are able to impart that blessing (Aertnys-Damen, Theologia Moralis, 5th ed., II, n. 1112).

⁴ Pontifical Commission, December 6, 1930 (A.A.S. 1931, p. 25).

⁵ Fanfani, cited work, p. 17.

III. Interpretation of the power of granting indulgences. Both ordinary and delegated power must be interpreted according to the proper meaning of the words and the common usage of speech; but in doubt it is to be taken broadly (canons 49, 50; St. Alphonsus, 534).

IV. Use of the power of granting indulgences.

1. In order that a concession be valid, a just cause is required. The reason is that the Supreme Pontiff is not the owner of the treasury of the Church, but has been constituted only its dispenser. But a dispenser is not judged to have been granted the faculty of disposing of goods at will, that is, without a just cause (St. Thomas, Supplement, q. 25, a. 2; St. Alphonsus, n. 532).

2. Furthermore, for liceity there is required a cause proportioned to the quantity of the indulgence, so that for a greater indulgence a greater cause is required. But the gravity of the cause is to be judged "not only from the difficulty of the work, but from the intended end and the usefulness of the work for that end" (St. Alphonsus, cited place).

It is disputed whether the proportion of the cause is required for validity. Now with St. Alphonsus (cited place) and the more common opinion, it seems one must affirm this, because a dispenser does not seem to have been granted the faculty of disposing prodigally of goods. Besides this, once an indulgence has been granted, a proportionate cause is always presumed to be present. Furthermore, even if a proportionate cause were lacking, nevertheless the privileges attached to the indulgence would certainly be valid, for example the faculty of absolving from reserved cases, since these are matters of ecclesiastical law.

Note. The Supreme Pontiff or a Bishop can sometimes grant an indulgence without the injunction of any work, because there can be a just and reasonable cause for granting an indulgence in this way, for example to a worthy man, or at the point of death.¹

¹ Aertnys-Damen, Theologia Moralis, 11th ed., II, n. 1113.

V. Publication of granted indulgences.

1. Indulgences promulgated at Rome need no further publication. Indulgences are understood to have been promulgated at Rome whether they have been granted through Briefs or through decrees contained in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis.

2. New indulgences, even those granted to churches of regulars, which have not been promulgated at Rome, are not to be published abroad without consulting the Ordinary of the place. In publishing books, booklets, etc., in which concessions of indulgences for various prayers or pious works are listed, the prescription of canon 1388 is to be observed.¹

3. Those who have obtained from the Supreme Pontiff concessions of indulgences for all the faithful are bound, under penalty of the nullity of the grace obtained, to bring authentic copies of those concessions to the Sacred Penitentiary (canon 920). It is said:

1. Concessions for all the faithful. Indulgences granted for all the faithful are understood as those which all the faithful can always and everywhere gain without the special use of a blessed thing, or participation in a pious confraternity, or visitation of a determinate church.²

2. Authentic copies, that is, a written document, either signed by the Supreme Pontiff's own hand or subscribed by a Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, which testifies to an oral oracle.

¹ That canon states: all books of indulgences, summaries, booklets, sheets, etc., in which their concessions are contained, are not to be published without the license of the Ordinary of the place. But the express license of the Apostolic See is required in order that it be lawful to publish in print, in any language, both the authentic collection of prayers and pious works to which the Apostolic See has attached indulgences, and the list of apostolic indulgences, and a summary of indulgences either previously collected but never approved, or now for the first time to be gathered from diverse concessions.

² Beringer-Steinen, cited work, I, n. 199-200.

VI. Interpretation of some indulgences granted or to be granted.

1. A plenary indulgence granted for the feasts of Our Lord Jesus Christ or for the feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary is understood to have been granted only for the feasts which are found in the universal calendar. A plenary or partial indulgence granted for the feasts of the Apostles is understood to have been granted only for their natal feast. A plenary indulgence granted as daily perpetual, or for a time, to those visiting some church or public oratory is to be understood in such a way that on any day, but only once in the year, it can be acquired by each member of the faithful, unless something else is expressly said in the decree (canon 921).

2. An indulgence affixed to some Feast is acquired by the faithful on the fixed day duly constituted in their Diocese; by Regular Orders, on the fixed day duly constituted in their Calendar; by those enrolled in a sodality of some Regular Order, on the fixed day duly constituted in the Calendar of the Diocese or in the Calendar of the Order, but not on both days. Thus the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences.¹

3. When a plenary indulgence once in a month is granted to those who have performed a certain good work through an entire month, the month is not necessarily to be computed from the first day to the last, but is understood as a continuous space of a month, that is, of thirty days.²

¹ August 29, 1864; January 12, 1878.

² Aertnys-Damen, II, n. 1120.