Dear Salvatore,

This is a common question; it's even in our searchable knowledge base:

https://www.AskACatholic.com/SiteSearch

There are a lot of quick answers there, so give it a try.

I searched the knowledge base for you and found these web postings that should answer your questions:

• What is the meaning, purpose, and history of indulgences?
• What is Purgatory and what are indulgences?
  
• How do I explain indulgences to my non-Catholic friends and parish students?

Salvatore,

Thanks for the question.  

Indulgences are a way of expediting or reducing the temporal punishment/purification due for our sins. While Christ provides salvation and all the grace needed for the sinner for redemption and sanctification, the sinner often fails to cooperate with that grace and thereby falls short of completing the process during their lifetime, therefore God finishes the work he started through purgation after death**.  

Our souls pass through what St. Paul called a “fire”, where our works are tested and the unholy (or worthless) deeds are burned away (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:10-16).  Somehow that sounds painful, and even though we know we are better off seeking holiness now, we make excuses for ourselves and resist the grace God is offering during our living breathing hours.  We die incomplete.  So the Church found a way to assist truly repentant sinners to find a way of getting back on track and making up for lost time.  That is where indulgences come in.  

Because the Church, as a whole, has a treasury of grace, it offers to the willing penitent a way of sharing in that gift through a sincere contrition, repentance and cooperation.  The penitent must seek Confession, Communion and some act designated as appropriate from the Bishop, Pope or Magisterium.  This indulgence is not a purchasable "get out of jail free card", as a form of simony, but rather a gift to those truly seeking grace.  

(Think of a parent telling a child “go apologize to your sister, and then I'll take you both out for ice cream.”  The reward is much greater than the merit of the act, but the small act permits the greater act to happen.) 

To understand it from a technical or doctrinal point of view check out the link below, it hopefully will give you a good overview, but come back here if you have any other questions.

Here is a link to the Vatican website, Catechism page on indulgences.

• Part Two: Section Two The Seven Sacraments Of The Church - Chapter Two The Sacraments Of Healing - Article 4 The Sacrament Of Penance And Reconciliation
  — X. Indulgences.

Side notes:

• **  Protestants often see salvation as a single declarative act and don’t see sanctification as an integral or contingent part of justification.
• Catholics see justification and sanctification as linked organically.

Peace,

Bob Kirby