"Pious Bookkeeping"

The votes came thick and fast as the 2,300 prelates assembled for the Second Vatican Council hurried to make the deadline for the four-year council's end on Dec. 8. By sizable majorities they approved, in principle, the 30,000 word schema on The Church in the Modern World, though there was some vociferous minority naysaying--notably from some conservatives who deplored the schema's encouragement of a "prudent" dialogue with atheists and from some Americans such as Archbishop Philip Hannan of New Orleans, who took exception to the schema's stern condemnation of atomic weapons and its scant suggestion of their peacekeeping capabilities.

Pope Paul VI took the floor of St. Peter's to promulgate two decrees: one on revelation (TIME, Nov. 5), which redefines the relationship between Scripture and tradition; another on the laity, which promotes laymen from the classical "pray, pay and obey" position to a role of Christian witness with less supervision from the clergy. Paul also announced that he will start proceedings for the beatification of Popes Pius XII and John XXIII, which could lead to canonizing them as saints.

As a corollary duty, the bishops, at the suggestion of the council's leaders, aired their views on a proposed reform of that ancient issue, the granting and gaining of indulgences. The resulting discussion reminded the world that this extraordinary set of spiritual transactions is still in force.

From the Treasury. Indulgences first appeared in the 11th century. In those days, the time to be served in penance for sin was often so long that it stretched beyond the penitent's life expectancy, and the indulgence granted for some special act of piety enabled him to cut back on the sentence. Later on, indulgences came to be conceived as release from some or all of the ac cumulated punishment time in Purgatory; the church could draw on its "treasury of merit," an increment gathered from Christ and the saints. The plenary indulgence, canceling all temporal punishment in or out of Purgatory due for a forgiven sin, was deemed by St. Thomas Aquinas to be sufficient to enable a soul to soar straight to heaven.

The abuses of this divine bookkeeping discredited the church and triggered Martin Luther's defection, but the indulgence structure still stands. According to Canon 911, "all men are to value indulgences highly," and indulgences of differing lengths are granted for various acts. Uttering "My God and my all" carries an indulgence of 300 days. If, "with faith, piety and love" one says "My lord and my God" at the elevation of the host during Mass, one gets an indulgence of seven years. Kissing the Pope's ring carries with it a 300-day indulgence but a bishop's gets only 50. Ascending the holy stairs in Rome on one's knees, "whilst meditating on the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ," is worth nine years per step.

Insufficient Reform. Among other provisions, the new reform prepared for Pope Paul under the leadership of Fernando Cardinal Cento, 82, abolished the time period for indulgences altogether (they are little more than symbolic anyway, since only God could know what purgatorial punishment fits what sin). Many prelates, including those from the U.S., thought this modification sufficient, but a few highly articulate cardinals expressed themselves strongly enough to send it back for further study. Melchite Patriarch Cardinal Maximos IV Saigh of Antioch seemed to advocate dismantling the whole system, pointing out that for the church's first eleven centuries, "there was no trace of indulgences, and even today the Eastern Church ignores them. In the Middle Ages, abuse of indulgences made grave scandals for Christianity. Even in our day it seems to us that the practice of indulgences too often favors in the faithful a sort of pious bookkeeping in which one forgets what is essential, namely, the sacred and personal effort of penance."

The attack was pressed, more obliquely, by Cardinals Koenig of Vienna and Doepfner of Munich. Cento's document, they said, was too juridical, not Biblical enough, theologically unsound, and likely to widen the breach between Roman Catholics and other Christians.

At the end, many of the assembled bishops broke into applause. In effect, until the indulgence system can be reformed profoundly it will not be reformed at all.

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