March 11, 1513: Giovanni di Lorenzo de’ Medici is elected pope and takes the name Leo X.
It is said (though this is not proven) that upon being elected pope he said: "Let us enjoy the papacy since God has given it to us."
A flawed personality, Leo X came into conflict with another flawed personality of his age: Martin Luther.
Leo authorized the monk Johann Tetzel to offer (NOT SELL!) indulgences in exchange for charitable donations to the fund for building St. Peter’s Basilica.
Tetzel’s reportedly-overzealous preaching enraged Luther, who then launched the Protestant "Reformation."
It happened on Leo X watch. He failed to take effective action to prevent the split.
Was he responsible? Not solely, surely. But to a significant degree? Quite possibly.
INFO ON LEO X FROM A SECULAR SOURCE.
INFO ON LEO X FROM A CATHOLIC SOURCE.
How is giving something in exchange for something else not “selling”?
“Wikipedia” is not exactly a good source to document information from. Any idiot can put whatever he wants, with whatever spin.
“How is giving something in exchange for something else not ‘selling’?”
Does God “sell’ salvation when he “gives it only in exchange” for someone’s faith?
How is giving something in exchange for something else not “selling”?
Because you could get the same thing without giving any money at all- such as by making a pilgrimage or praying a novena.
I once had a knock-down, drag out fight with someone over the whole “Let us enjoy the papacy since God has given it to us.” slander of Leo X- and it is slander, wholely invented by a apostate bishop in England. ( I wish I still had my notes, by they were saved in a Hotmail account, and Hotmail recently deleted my e-mail accounts).
I’ll take a stab at this. Indulgences are offered for a variety of Christian practices, such as saying certain prayers or combinations thereof, sometimes at designated times. If I make a donation to charity, that could be a gracious act, and an indulgence could be offered for that kind of act, assuming no one misunderstands what is actually taking place.
The problem is that it’s such a fine line that it’s easy to miss — perhaps even for those making the donations or offering the indulgences. Thus, in appearances it could be very misleading and, well, be among the reasons people might lose faith in the Church’s authority to teach and offer the sacraments.
One difference between offering indulgences to those who make donations and selling is that the person offering the indulgence is not the intended benificiary of the donation. However, the line can be very hard to see here, too, if the person in charge of deciding how those donations are used is the same person offering the indulgence. Obviously, this creates plenty of opportunity for abuse.
Bill,
that was a very thoughtful answer. thanks. As you note it is a very fine line, I don’t think the Church decided to baldly sell indulgences, but in practice it seems to have degenerated into that.
Jimmy is a smart and usually very thorough blogger but I thought he was too quick in dismissal in this case.
BTW, Eric that is a tough objection that raises the issue of predestination and Faith+Works. It seems to me that we are given the grace to work out our salvation and in that way it is a free gift that we “purchase”.
but the issue of Pope Leo’s ingulgences seems quite a bit more sordid than God’s gift of salvation.
I am an evangelical seriously considering Catholicism and I am very thankful for this blog.
It was enough of an issue that Trent had to reform it, we should remember.
“Jimmy is a smart and usually very thorough blogger but I thought he was too quick in dismissal in this case.”
It’s impossible to cover everything in every post — that wasn’t the main topic of this post. I would bet that Jimmy’s covered this issue before, and with far more research to back up his position than I’ve ever done. Still, it’s a good question about the indulgences.
This issue came up on a ‘Catholic’ discussion board in Australia.
Leo authorized the monk Johann Tetzel to offer (NOT SELL!) indulgences in exchange for charitable donations to the fund for building St. Peter’s Basilica.
What is the source for this comment? On the above mentioned board it was alleged that the pope authorised Tetzel to SELL indulgences and I didn’t have any proof for the contrary.
A telemovie on Luther was recently on Australian screens. In the telemovie it was said that Leo used to attend/throw parties at which little naked boys jumped out of cakes. Once again I couldn’t find any info re thie remark. Can anyone help?
“It was enough of an issue that Trent had to reform it, we should remember.”
Hear, hear.
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