ainst St. Peter
and against the pope.

78. We say, on the contrary, that even the present pope, and any
pope at all, has greater graces at his disposal; to wit, the
Gospel, powers, gifts of healing, etc., as it is written in I.
Corinthians xii.

79. To say that the cross, emblazoned with the papal arms, which
is set up [by the preachers of indulgences], is of equal worth
with the Cross of Christ, is blasphemy.

80. The bishops, curates and theologians who allow such talk to
be spread among the people, will have an account to render.

81. This unbridled preaching of pardons makes it no easy matter,
even for learned men, to rescue the reverence due to the pope
from slander, or even from the shrewd questionings of the laity.

82. To wit:--"Why does not the pope empty purgatory, for the sake
of holy love and of the dire need of the souls that are there, if
he redeems an infinite number of souls for the sake of miserable
money with which to build a Church? The former reasons would be
most just; the latter is most trivial."

83. Again:--"Why are mortuary and anniversary masses for the dead
continued, and why does he not return or permit the withdrawal of
the endowments founded on their behalf, since it is wrong to pray
for the redeemed?"

84. Again:--"What is this new piety of God and the pope, that for
money they allow a man who is impious and their enemy to buy out
of purgatory the pious soul of a friend of God, and do not
rather, because of that pious and beloved soul's own need, free
it for pure love's sake?"

85. Again:--"Why are the penitential canons,[21] long since in
actual fact and through disuse abrogated and dead, now satisfied
by the granting of indulgences, as though they were still alive
and in force?"

86. Again:--"Why does not the pope, whose wealth is to-day
greater than the riches of the richest, build just this one
church of St. Peter with his own money, rather than with the
money of poor believers?"

87. Again:--"What is it that the pope remits, and what
participation[22] does he grant to those who, by perfect
contrition, have a right to full remission and participation?"

88. Again:--"What greater blessing could come to the Church than
if the pope were to do a hundred times a day what he now does
once,[23] and bestow on every believer these remissions and
participations?"

89. "Since the pope, by his pardons, seeks the salvation of souls
rather than money, why does he suspend the indul