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EDWARD N. PETERS, A Modern Guide to Indulgences: Rediscovering This Often Misinterpreted Teaching, Chicago/Mundelein, IL, Hillenbrand Books, 2008, ix +118 p. - ISBN 978-1-59525-024-7 - US $13.95.
In 1967, Paul VI introduced notable changes into the discipline and regulation of indulgences by means of the apostolic constitution Induigentiarum doctrina. The new norms addressed three principal issues: 1) the establishment of a new measure for partial indulgences; no longer are they to be measured in terms of days and years; 2) the reduction of the number of plenary indulgences, not to deprive the faithful of their benefits, but to assist them in their proper disposition and sufficient preparation; and 3) the reduction and organization of indulgences attached to objects and places into a simpler and worthier form. The terms "real" and "local" indulgences were to be suppressed entirely, so as to clarify that it is the faithful's acts which are the subject of indulgences, not things or places which are merely occasions for gaining indulgences. These notable reforms have been successfully incorporated into the 1983 Code of Canon Law (cc. 992-997) and the Enchiridion induigentiarum which contains supplemental law regulating the grant and acquisition of indulgences, in addition to the actual concession of various indulgences. The Enchiridion has been revised on four occasions by the Apostolic Penitentiary since 1967, the latest of which was promulgated on 16 July 1999. Minor variations were introduced into this fourth edition in 2004.
Despite these recent reforms, the author correctly observes that indulgences remain relatively unknown and, to a great extent,...