Use the following excerpt from the decrees of the Twenty-Fifth Council of Trent (1563) to answer the question: Whereas the power
of conferring Indulgences was granted by Christ to the Church...the sacred holy Synod teaches, and enjoins, that the use of Indulgence... is to be retained in the Church; and It condemns with anathema those who either assert, that they are useless; or who deny that there is in the Church the power of granting them. In granting them, however, It desires that, in accordance with the ancient and approved custom in the Church, moderation be observed.... And...that all evil gains for the obtaining thereof,--whence a most prolific cause of abuses amongst the Christian people has been derived,--be wholly abolished.-- Excerpt from the decrees of the Twenty-Fifth Council of Trent, 1563 This decree was a response to which Protestant reform?
This passage we can say is a direct response the critique of indulgences raised by the Protestant reform.
In other words this could be a direct answer to Martin Luther and his 95 thesis, in which the selling of the indulgences, that is the forgiveness of sins in exchange of money, was the main issue. The Church states that the Christ himself gave the right to them to sell the indulgences and that that is the time-honored tradition.
Though the rules and responsibilities vary greatly through time and place, governments must create them. Governments provide the parameters for everyday ...
