This week in Christian history: Bob Coy resigns; Pope Leo X triggers Reformation; Jesuits arrive in Brazil
Pope Leo X issues indulgence decree – March 31, 1515
This week marks the anniversary of when Pope Leo X issued a papal bull that called for an indulgence to be paid to help build and renovate St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, Italy.
Known as Sacrosanctis Salvatoris et Redemptoris Nostri — or “Of our Most Holy Savior and Redeemer” in English — the edict called on people living in parts of modern-day Germany to raise money for the construction project.
The means involved indulgences, or being forgiven of sins by paying money to the Church, with this particular decree promising “remission from all sins” for the person who purchased it.
“So that the souls of the departed may also be aided, we grant, by the fullness of our apostolic authority, that whoever gives alms for the Basilica in the name of souls in purgatory shall obtain for them full indulgence and remission of penalties,” continued the bull.
“We also decree that all benefactors and their deceased relatives shall participate perpetually in all the prayers, Masses, fasts, and other spiritual goods of the whole Church.”
The edict would eventually come to the attention of a German Augustinian monk named Martin Luther, who two years later would write 95 theses protesting the merits of the document.
