“The gift of indulgence: at the heart of the mystery of the Redemption”: this is the title of the lectio of Cardinal Piacenza, Major Penitentiary, offered to the participants in the XXXIII Course on the Internal Forum, which will be held until 24 of March. Fraternal dialogue, authentic spiritual paternity and evangelical parrhesia: the ways to manifest the abundance of God’s mercy, of which the Church is custodian
Antonella Palermo – Ciudad del Vaticano
Within the framework of the XXXIII Course on the Internal Forum of the Apostolic Penitentiary, which is held until March 24 and is aimed at priests and those regarding to receive Holy Orders, Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, Major Penitentiary, articulated his reading focusing on indulgence from a doctrinal, historical and spiritual-pastoral point of view.
Faith in Christ is not a vague deism
Considering that the Catholic faith is subjected, the cardinal affirmed, to numerous “reductions” that have led to not a few errors over time, it is necessary to reaffirm the historical fact of the Incarnation to avoid any gnostic or explicitly gnostic tendency. Specifically, the cardinal explained that “from too many sectors, the sirens of the world sound in unison so that faith in the risen Christ is reduced to a vague deism”, a vague “therapeutic insinuation, which links the judgment of truth and good , only to the subject and to the changing feeling itself”.
The Church, he points out, is “the first depositary” of the abundance of Christ’s mercy, “perennially updated and renewed in the sacrament of Reconciliation.”
Cardinal Piacenza also stressed that “using the apostolic authority that Christ himself conferred on her, the Church wisely and prudently draws from the treasury of divine mercy, not only the forgiveness of sins committed by the faithful following Baptism, but also the remission of of the temporal penalties inherent in them”.
The value of indulgences on the path of sanctification
The cardinal’s attention focused on those “partial indulgences” or “weekly indulgences” that reveal a constant bond with God, a perennial look at Heaven: an ejaculation, a penitential gesture, the reading of a verse of Scripture, an act of charity. It is precisely this relational aspect that is underlined: “Indulgences certainly maintain an expiatory value, but it is always opportune to also underline their relational, spiritual value, and thus support the personal path of sanctification.”
And they also reinforce the communion of saints, because they are applicable to our deceased brothers and sisters, still on the path of purification towards the full beatific vision. “In this sense – she specified – indulgences cross and almost break the space-time limits of our earthly existence and are like an anticipation of life as resurrected”.
The abuses of the monetization of indulgences
Once once more, Cardinal Piacenza spoke of reductionism when he delved into the historical vision of indulgences: there are those who do not take into account the limits, if not the abuses, that have occurred in this area, and there are those who demonize their use, wishing for their extinction .
Through an excursion from the 1st century, when Christians raised their prayers for suffrage for the deceased, we arrive at the 11th century, when we find royal indulgences. The phenomenon of the “monetization” of indulgences is certainly deplorable, said the cardinal, although to a certain extent it can be explained taking into account the cultural, social and religious context that considered it normal and opportune to ensure eternal salvation even by sacrificing enormous assets.
Another clarification from the cardinal also referred to the temptation to “precipitately archive and silence the issue of indulgences in the name of an ecumenism misunderstood with the Reform communities.”
Forgiveness and parrhesia
In the last part of his readingCardinal Piacenza underlined some features of mercy and forgiveness: “It is not mercy to lie regarding sin, and even less to leave the faithful in a state of sin for fear of the confessor when speaking to the faithful, as an authorized father and doctor solicitous. Only a misunderstood mercy, devoid of Christian realism, can abdicate the extremely serious task of judge and doctor that Christ entrusts to the Apostles and their successors. That Christ entrusts to every confessor”.
Fraternal dialogue and authentic spiritual paternity are the ways that each priest has to put into practice “the serious duty of admonishing the sinner regarding the seriousness of his condition”: if he did not do so, he himself would answer for it before God. The prerequisite is evangelical parrhesia, for the indulgence to be truly a medicine for the soul.
In fact, Cardinal Piacenza concluded, there is only one condition to receive plenary indulgence, which can be recognized in communion: in sacramental communion, through Penance and the Eucharist; in the communion of the one faith, through the Creed; in hierarchical communion, through prayer for the person and according to the intentions of the Roman Pontiff.