Indulgence dealers as lone perpetrators against church doctrine?

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History cannot be changed, but memories of it appear to be very flexible. The sale of indulgences for cash was the last straw. It triggered the Reformation movements. “All of them were individual perpetrators” and against the teachings of the Church, is how Roman Catholics look back today.

Indulgence trade and Luther

Changing history or simply remembering it differently? The Roman Catholic Church’s indulgence trade was booming at the beginning of the 16th century. The ultimate catalyst for the Reformation. On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed the famous 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg to denounce this rampant indulgence trade. The reformer was not concerned with the principle of indulgences at all, but with the transformation of the “grace of the church” into hard cash.

One of the main characters involved was Johann Tetzel, a Dominican monk. He specialized in indulgence sermons and traveled around the country with an oversized cash box. “As soon as the money rings in the box, the soul leaps into heaven!” was one of Tetzel’s slogans that has been passed down to this day. Today we would say that Tetzel had built up his own brand. The cash box for collecting the indulgence money was called the “Tetzel box”. It was actually a long box with a volume of around 0.16 cubic meters. This gives us an idea of ​​how profitable the indulgence trade must have been. Tetzel, who originally collected money for the Teutonic Order, had already had 12 years of “professional experience” by 1517.

Luther remains an enemy image

Those who benefited from the indulgences were Tetzel himself, the archbishop of Albrecht of Brandenburg and the Vatican, who received half of the proceeds to finance St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Pope Leo X was desperately in need of extra income because the church had accumulated a mountain of debt to the Fugger banking family (Augsburg). The busy Tetzel once also reached the Wittenberg area, in what was then Saxony (now Thuringia). And Martin Luther was also there, and was able to witness the lively activities of the indulgence preacher.

Martin Luther was, is and remains the most cherished enemy of the Roman Catholic Church. Ecumenism or not, the excommunication of the former monk still stands today and otherwise people do not say “very good things” about the professor of theology at the time. After all, the Reformation provoked the Council of Trent, and a relativization of the accusations against Luther today would also result in a relativization of the dogma determination and consolidation of the “infallible” council. Therefore, it is impossible to rehabilitate Luther.

New memories of history

You wouldn’t believe it, but today the consensus is that the Catholic Church has never tolerated the sale of indulgences, seriously (Source). Tetzel and his “accomplices” have therefore crossed boundaries and acted against church teachings.

At least this indirectly proves Martin Luther and his protest against the practice of selling indulgences right at face value. It is no secret that Luther’s motive was not to establish a new church, but to eliminate abuses within the Church of Rome. But since the confirmation of the arch-enemy image of the church must not occur under any circumstances, it is formulated with machinations and loopholes. According to this, Luther was right to protest against the sale of indulgences, but he was misguided in his opposition to indulgences.

This misguided statement contains, as is usual, only half-truths. At the time of his protest at the end of October 1517, Luther had even (still) defended indulgences.
These 71:
“Whoever speaks against the truth of the apostolic indulgence is to be rejected and accursed.”

Business was a thorn in Luther’s side, Thesis 89:
“Why does the Pope seek the salvation of souls through indulgences more than money; why does he now revoke letters and indulgences granted previously, which are just as effective?“

Luther had a learning phase

Being a Catholic priest or monk has never been a predicate for having in-depth knowledge of the gospel. Back when the Bible in Latin was only available to a select circle, you were one of the privileged to be able to take a closer look at it.

But after Martin Luther had set about translating the Old and New Testaments and began to understand the gospel as it is written, his former Catholic beliefs regarding the sale of indulgences also changed. This affected prayers to the dead as well as the state of the soul after death and the quasi-deification of Mary.

Trying to recall the history of the once extremely lucrative indulgence trade, which ultimately led to the financing of St. Peter’s Basilica, which can still be admired today, in such a modified form seems a little embarrassing. As always, the unchanging character of the papacy and thus also of the Church of Rome (Info).

Bible verses from King James Version (1611)