[Natural Law]

"On the contrary. The Council of Trent "abolished" the practice."

Harley, Harley, Harley, I recognize and appreciate the effort you are putting into this, but I think your problem is that you are reading Catholic sources (note: New Advent is not an official Catholic source) not with a critical and objective eye, but in an effort to find evidence of guilt. Trent did not outlaw indulgences. Catholic doctrine, per Indulgentarium Doctrina 1, defines and indulges as; "An indulgence is 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 defined conditions through the Church’s help when, as a minister of redemption, she dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions won by Christ and the saints".

The scandal you are referring to was the corruption of the practice of alms giving. There has never been any selling of indulgences.

[HarleyD]

I think your problem is that you are reading Catholic sources (note: New Advent is not an official Catholic source) not with a critical and objective eye, but in an effort to find evidence of guilt. Trent did not outlaw indulgences.

I didn't say Trent outlaw indulgences. What I said was Trent abolished the practice of collecting money for indulgences. The Catholic Church still has indulgences. They just no longer allow the practice of collecting money for them.

As as far as New Advent not being an "official" Catholic source, this is the acknowledgment New Advent has on their site:

The Editors take occasion on the appearance of this first volume to express their gratitude to all who have taken part with them in this enterprise; in particular to the hierarchy for their cordial endorsement; to Catholic publishers and to the editors of the Catholic press for their frequent courtesies; to the contributors for their ready co-operation; to the original subscribers for their generous support; to the directors of the Company organized specially to produce the work, and to many non-Catholics for their kindly encouragement. - New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia

If there is something that is in error, I'm sure they would love to be the first to hear about it.

BTW-As a non-Catholic I do kindly encourage New Advent to publish more of the Catholic faith. It's very much an eye opener.