In the teaching of the Catholic Church, an indulgence is "a way to reduce the amount of punishment one has to undergo for (forgiven) sins". The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes an indulgence as "a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions…"
Inscription on the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran in Rome: Indulgentia plenaria perpetua quotidiana toties quoties pro vivis et defunctis (English: "Perpetual everyday plenary indulgence on every occasion for the living and the dead")
Apostolic Benediction and Plenary Indulgence Parchment
Archbishop Socrates B. Villegas bestows the Easter Mass Plenary Indulgence in 2012 (St. John the Evangelist Metropolitan Cathedral, Dagupan, Philippines).
A 1948 reproduction of the Stradanus engraving, a 17th-century certificate for indulgences, in return for cash contributions to build a shrine
Penance is any act or a set of actions done out of repentance for sins committed, as well as an alternate name for the Catholic, Lutheran, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox sacrament of Reconciliation or Confession. It also plays a part in confession among Anglicans and Methodists, in which it is a rite, as well as among other Protestants.
La Penitente by Pietro Rotari
A 17th-century depiction of one of the 28 articles of the Augsburg Confession by Wenceslas Hollar, which divides repentance into two parts: "One is contrition, that is, terrors smiting the conscience through the knowledge of sin; the other is faith, which is born of the Gospel, or of absolution, and believes that for Christ's sake, sins are forgiven, comforts the conscience, and delivers it from terrors."
The reproach of Nathan and the penance of King David (Paris Psalter, folio 136v, 10th century).
Russian Orthodox priest hearing confessions before Divine Liturgy
