Abolishing the Sale of Indulgences
THE Roman correspondent of the Boston Transcript affirms that Pope Pius has decided to take a step which is calculated to make no small stir in the Catholic world. The pope has gained a reputation as a reformer, and to his other reforms is now to be added that of abolishing the sale of indulgences, a custom which dates back in the church beyond the time of the Reformation. It was the monk Tetzel's sale of indulgences, it will be remembered, that stirred Luther to raise aloft the banner of salvation by faith in the Word of God. If such a reform had been instituted a few centuries earlier, its fruits would have been vastly greater than they can be to-day.