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Questions / Confession and the sacraments

What is an indulgence?

Church teaching

Answered on video by Catholic Answers

Video: What is an Indulgence?, Catholic Answers Live, published Mar 22, 2017. Checked 10 October 2026. Loads from YouTube (privacy-enhanced mode) only when you press play. Watch on YouTube

In short: Forgiveness already happened. An indulgence, through the Church, wipes away the leftover temporal punishment for sins. CCC 1471

The answer, in writing

Church teaching

An indulgence is “a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven,” gained through the action of the Church. CCC 1471

Indulgences may be applied to the living or the dead. CCC 1471

Our words

The forgiveness already happened in confession. An indulgence helps heal what’s left over, the way a cast helps after the doctor sets the bone. And no, they’re not for sale.

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Sources on this page

How we know · 1 Catechism paragraph
  1. Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 1471 (official text on vatican.va).

Stone & Incense restates Church teaching in plain words and cites every teaching claim. Our own wording is not an official Church text. Found a mistake? Report an errorCorrections.