Indulgences 
The
means by which the Roman Church claims to give remission before God of the
temporal punishment due to sins, whose guilt has already been forgiven. The
theology of this idea developed slowly in the Western church and from the
sixteenth century in Roman Catholicism; it has often been the case that
practice went ahead of the theory. Further, the granting of indulgences has
sometimes been the occasion of abuse and controversy, e.g., the famous
controversy between Martin Luther and J. J. Tetzel in 1517 in Germany at the
beginning of the Protestant Reformation.
By what power does the church grant such
indulgences? There is believed to exist a treasury of merits, those of Christ,
the saints, and martyrs (where is this in the Bible?) available to the church
in and through the communion of saints. The pope (pope? where is he found in the Bible?) may make use of this merit
and apply it via indulgences (indulgences? where is this found the Bible?) to
Christian people in order to remit their temporal punishment. Since the Second
Vatican Council the Roman Church has made efforts to revise and improve this
whole system.