CATHOLIC WORD BOOK - Knights of Columbus, Supreme Council

constitution issued by Paul VI Jan. 1,
1967, an indulgence is the remission
before God of the temporal punishment
due for sins already forgiven as far as their
guilt is concerned, which a follower of
Christ — with the proper dispositions and
under certain determined conditions —
acquires through the intervention of the
Church. An indulgence is partial or
plenary, depending on whether it does
away with either part or all of the temporal
punishment due for sin. Both types of
indulgences can always be applied to the
dead by way of suffrage; the actual
disposition of indulgences applied to the
dead rests with God. Only one plenary
indulgence can be gained in a single day.
The Apostolic Penitentiary issued a decree
Dec. 14, 1985, granting diocesan bishops
the right to impart — three times a year
on solemn feasts of their choice — the
papal blessing with a plenary indulgence
to those who cannot be physically present
but who follow the sacred rites at which
the blessing is imparted by radio or
television transmission. In July, 1986,
publication was announced of a new and
simplified Enchiridion Indulgentiarum, in
accord with provisions of the revised Code
of Canon Law. A revised manual was issued
by the Holy See on Sept. 17, 2000.
Indult: A favor or privilege granted by
competent ecclesiastical authority, giving
permission to do something not allowed
by the common law of the Church.
Infallibility: 1) The inability of the Church
to err in its teaching, in that she preserves
and teaches the deposit of truth as revealed
by Christ; 2) The inability of the Roman
Pontiff to err when he teaches ex cathedra in
matters of faith or morals, and indicates
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that the doctrine is to be believed by all
the faithful; and 3) the inability of the
college of bishops to err when speaking in
union with the pope in matters of faith and
morals, agreeing that a doctrine must be
held by the universal Church, and the
doctrine is promulgated by the Pontiff.
Infused Virtues: The theological virtues of
faith, hope, and charity; principles or
capabilities of supernatural action, they are
given with sanctifying grace by God rather
than acquired by repeated acts of a person.
They can be increased by practice; they are
lost by contrary acts. Natural acquired
moral virtues, like the cardinal virtues of
prudence, justice, temperance, and
fortitude, can be considered infused in a
person whose state of grace gives them
supernatural orientation.
Inquisition: A tribunal for dealing with
heretics, authorized by Gregory IX in
1231 to search them out, hear and judge
them, sentence them to various forms of
punishment, and in some cases to hand
them over to civil authorities for
punishment. The Inquisition was a
creature of its time when crimes against
faith, which threatened the good of the
Christian community, were regarded also
as crimes against the state, and when
heretical doctrines of such extremists as
the Cathari and Albigensians threatened
the very fabric of society. The institution,
which was responsible for many excesses,
was most active in the second half of the
13th century.
Inquisition, Spanish: An institution
peculiar to Spain and the colonies in
Spanish America. In 1478, at the urging of
King Ferdinand, Pope Sixtus IV approved