Who could grant indulgences in the medieval Roman Catholic Church?

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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 the medieval Roman Catholic Church, the authority to grant indulgences was primarily held by the pope. While popes were the central figures in authorizing these remissions of temporal punishment for sin, archbishops and bishops were also permitted to grant them to a lesser extent.1

These grants were designed to help individuals measure and amortize the debt of their sins, which was believed to be further addressed in purgatory. Over time, the system became increasingly complex, particularly after Pope Clement VI decreed in 1343 that the pope held control over the Treasury of Merit, which contained the good works of Jesus Christ and the saints.1