The Ninety-Five Theses called for many reforms, including banning the sale of indulgences.
The Disputation on the Power of Indulgences, better known as the ninety-five theses, is a list of propositions for an academic debate written by Martin Luther in the year 1517, which began the Protestant Reformation, a schism in the Catholic Church that profoundly changed European history. The theses promoted Luther's arguments against what he considered an abuse of clergy practice by selling plenary indulgences, certificates that, according to Catholic beliefs, reduce the temporal punishment of purgatory for sins committed by buyers or their loved ones.
In his theses, Luther affirmed that the repentance established by Christ, by which sins would be forgiven, implies an internal spiritual repentance instead of simply an external sacramental confession, that is, with the priest. According to him, indulgences incited Christians to avoid true repentance and affliction for sin, believing that they could renounce them by buying an indulgence. He also indicated that indulgences discouraged Christians from giving to the poor and performing other acts of mercy, believing that certificates of indulgence possessed greater spiritual value. Although Luther claimed that his arguments on indulgences were in accord with those of the Pope, the ninety-five theses challenged a fourteenth-century papal bull that stated that the Roman pontiff could use the "treasury of merits" and the good deeds of the saints of the past. to forgive the temporary punishment for sins.
