Indulgences, I believe, that's the way I learned it in Catholic School. Doug, isn't that right?
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07783a.htm
> Voila, guilt-free
> consumption! It reminds us of the era when rich
> Catholics paid the
> church for "dispensations" that would shorten their
> terms in Purgatory.
>
[WS:] Historically speaking, that was an adaptation to changing economic conditions toward the end of the Middle ages (13th -14th century). The Catholic Church preached poverty when Europe was dirt poor and barbaric vis a vis the Islamic world, but that started to change with the Portuguese and Spanish maritime adventures. As the fortuned were made, people started wondering whether that would be an impediment to their salvation. The Church's answer was simple and ingenious - use your wealth to do the "works of mercy" (build churches, hospitals, shelters for widows and orphans, etc.) and you will be saved. The indulgences were a relatively late development along that road, if I remember my history correctly.
I think they became a problem only because an alternative theology, that viewing wealth as a sign from god of being predestined for salvation was already taking hold and the rich merchants preferred it to the Catholic "works of mercy" - if we were to believe Max Weber. The Protestant doctrine did not require them to part with their wealth to achieve salvation.
Wojtek