Vatican curbs shops' sales of papal blessings
September 08, 2014
The Vatican has announced that souvenir shops in Rome will no longer be allowed to sell plaques and parchments with papal blessings.
Since the pontificate of Leo XIII, the Vatican has allowed the sale of parchments conveying papal blessings, stamped with the papal seal and signed by the papal almoner. These parchments are regularly purchased as gifts for weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, and other special occasions.
The papal blessings have been sold through the Vatican’s Office of Papal Charities and also through the shops closest to St. Peter’s Square—with the latter selling the parchments at a considerable profit.
Bishop Konrad Krajewski, the papal almoner, informed the shopkeepers in April that beginning on January 1, 2015, the papal blessings will only be available through his Office of Papal Charities. The parchments, which range in price from €7 to €25 ($9 to $32), can be purchased online.
All profits from the sale of these documents will go to the papal charities.
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Further information:
- Shops to stop selling blessing scrolls as Vatican becomes sole distributor (Vatican Insider)
- Pope Francis plans to rein in trade in Vatican scrolls (BBC)
- Office of Papal Charities
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Posted by: james-w-anderson8230 -
Sep. 09, 2014 11:24 PM ET USA
Technical Note - the article says you can buy Papal Blessings online whereas the link to the "Office of Papal Charities" says you can not buy them online; however after you receive it you can pay for it online.
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Posted by: -
Sep. 09, 2014 12:36 PM ET USA
Indulgences are not, were not, always bad, as the protestants like to say. Most of the time they are merely the Church's way of letting us know that when we share our wealth with others, with the Church, our generosity towards others is also "generating" a positive good for ourselves. Was this process of granting indulgences sometimes abused? Sure. But to think that it was always abused is just not accurate.
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Posted by: John J Plick -
Sep. 08, 2014 9:53 PM ET USA
"The Vatican has announced that souvenir shops in Rome will no longer be allowed to sell plaques and parchments with papal blessings." So... How many Catholics have we lost to the protestant "reformation" because the papacy refused to curb clerical avarice with respect to "the selling" of indulgences? If I remember "The Act of Contrition" correctly; "to avoid the near occasions of sin"?