1343 Unigenitus defends indulgences
Pierre Roger, a monk and Archbishop of Rouen, was elected Pope in 1342, the fourth pontiff — all Frenchmen — to reign in Avignon during the “Babylonian Captivity” when the papacy was absent from Rome. He took the regnal name of Clement VI
In 1343, Clement refused a plea by the Romans and the poet Petrarch to return to Rome but in order to lessen the sting of his refusal, issued the bull Unigenitus Dei filius, which reduced the time between jubilees (a huge boon to the Roman tourist trade) from 100 years to 50 — meaning that the city could look forward eagerly to the year 1350. In the bull the pope outlined clearly the rules governing indulgences, documents whereby the pope could remit time that the dead spent in Purgatory.
It was accepted in medieval theology that the living could help the dead move from the pains of Purgatory to the bliss of Paradise by prayer or acts of charity. In this English drawing of the 1400s we see that masses said for the deceased and alms giving draw souls out of Purgatory toward Heaven. Unfortunately the practice degenerated to the point where merely buying an indulgence was said to be sufficient.
It was this practice that Martin Luther would condemn in 1517, setting off the Protestant Reformation. In his Introduction to the 95 Theses, Luther states:
Lastly, works of piety and charity are infinitely better than indulgences, and yet they [the Roman Catholic priests] do not preach these with such display or so much zeal; nay, they keep silence about them for the sake of preaching pardons. And yet it is the first and sole duty of all bishops, that the people should learn the Gospel and Christian charity: for Christ nowhere commands that indulgences should be preached. What a dreadful thing it is then, what peril to a bishop, if, while the Gospel is passed over in silence, he permits nothing but the noisy outcry of indulgences to be spread among his people, and bestows more care on these than on the Gospel!