Pope Benedict XVI: Indulgences Simply an Exchange of Gifts

From a recent Q&A with Priests of Rome:

First the question:

"8. Holy Father, I am Pietro Riggi and I am a Salesian who works in the Don Bosco Youth Borgo, and I want to ask you: the Second Vatican Council brought many important novelties into the Church, but it did not abolish the things that were already there. It seems to me that various priests or theologians would like to pass off as the spirit of the Council that which in fact has nothing to do with the Council. For example, indulgences. [....]"

And the answer:

"These are realities of which the Council didn’t speak, but presupposed as realities within the Church. They live in the Church and develop in it. Now is not the time for entering into the great theme of indulgences. Paul VI reordered this subject, and he gives us the line for understanding it. I would say that it’s simply a matter of an exchange of gifts. That is, when there’s something good in the Church, it’s meant for all. With the key of indulgences, we can enter into this communion of goods in the Church. Protestants oppose it, affirming that the only treasure is Christ. But for me, the marvelous thing is that Christ – who is more than sufficient in his infinite love, in his divinity and humanity – wanted to add, to what he did, also our poverty. He doesn’t consider us solely as objects of his mercy, but he makes us subjects of mercy and of love together with him, almost as if – even if not quantitatively, but at least in a mysterious sense – he wanted to add us to the great treasure of the Body of Christ. He wanted to be the head with the body. He wanted the mystery of redemption to be completed with the body. Jesus wanted to have the Church as his body, in which all the richness of what he did is realized. On the basis of this mystery, there is a tesaurus ecclesiae, which the body, like the head, gives away, which we may have and which we may give one to the other.

The same thing applies to the other subjects you mention. For example, the Fridays of the Sacred Heart are a very beautiful thing in the Church. These are not necessary things, but they’ve grown up in the richness of meditation upon the mystery. Thus the Lord offers us these possibilities in the Church. This doesn’t seem to me like the moment to enter into all the details. Everyone can more or less understand what’s less important than something else; but no one should disrespect this richness, grown up over the centuries as an offering, as a multiplication of the lights in the church.

The light of Christ is one. It appears in all its colors, and offers the awareness of the richness of his gift, the interaction between head and body, the interaction among the members, so that we may truly be together a living organism, in which everyone gives to all, and all give the Lord, who has given us his entire self."

Translation by National Catholic Reporter 

(larger text is my emphasis)

Christ allows our poverty to be added to His richness. Like a father who gives his children an allowance so they can give each other presents. Or like a father who teaches his older children to teach and help the younger ones. Such an arrangement is not the most efficient or of absolute necessity, but it is beautiful and fitting. 

Postscript: Regarding this Q&A session and others, NCR's John Allen recently said that "Anyone taking the trouble to look, however, can’t help but notice that for a guy who’s not sold on the dialogue, Benedict XVI is pretty good at it" ("Benedict Perfects Q&A Format").