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How did the Council of Trent respond to financial abuses involving indulgences?

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Anastasis (Christ ascending from hell), apse fresco, c. 1320; in the Church of the Holy Saviour at the Monastery of the Chora (now the Kariye Museum), Istanbul. — purgatory *Anastasis* (Christ ascending from hell), apse fresco, c. 1320; in the Church of the Holy Saviour at the Monastery of the Chora (now the Kariye Museum), Istanbul.

In response to the financial abuses surrounding the practice of indulgences, the Council of Trent (1545–1563) took decisive action to reform the system while maintaining its underlying theology.

In 1563, the Council formally condemned "all base gain for securing indulgences," effectively prohibiting the transactional nature that had led to widespread scandal and criticism during the Middle Ages. Following this mandate, Pope Pius V officially abolished the sale of indulgences in 1567.12

While these reforms addressed the financial corruption—such as the practices of pardoners and the diversion of funds for secular debts—the Council reaffirmed the place of indulgences within the Roman Catholic salvific process. By clarifying doctrine and eliminating these abuses, the Church sought to restore the integrity of the penitential system, which remained a core belief regarding the remission of temporal punishment for sin and the assistance of souls in purgatory.132