Footnote

a According to Catholic dogma, sin involves guilt and two kinds of punishment​—eternal and temporal. Guilt and eternal punishment are remitted by means of the sacrament of penance. Temporal punishment must be atoned for in this life by good works and penitential practices, or in the next life in the fire of purgatory. An indulgence is a partial or a full (plenary) remission of temporal punishment by the application of the merits of Christ, Mary, and the “saints,” that are stored up in the “Treasury of the Church.” The “good works” required to obtain an indulgence can include a pilgrimage or the contributing of money to some “good” cause. In the past, money was thus raised for the Crusades and for the building of cathedrals, churches, and hospitals.