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In the Roman Catholic Church, an indulgence is the remission of the punishment that remains due for sin after sacramental absolution. This remission, which is granted by ecclesiastical authority, applies only to temporal punishment, in this world or in purgatory, and is to be distinguished from divine forgiveness. Johann Tetzel, a German Dominican friar, was a preacher of indulgences. The system of indulgences, which developed out of the penitential discipline of the early church, became, …

…Reformation. The Catholic Counter-Reformation, including the founding of the Jesuits by Ignatius Loyola, the Council of Trent in 1545-63, the Inquisition, the Index, and reformed clergy like Charles Borromeo gave new life to the old church and was in part a result of the Reformation movement. Finally, the Reformation introduced radical change in thought and in ecclesiastical and political organization and thus began many of the trends that are taken to characterize the modern world.