One of the historical scandals of the Catholic Church has been the practice of granting indulgences: in layman's terms, the selling of pardon for sins in consideration of political or monetary favors granted to the hierarchy. Not only was this practice morally repellent at the time, as this practice helped fuel the Protestant Reformation, but it has helped undermine the credibility of the Catholic Church as an institution for centuries afterwards. One is tempted to ask, weren't these people thinking at all? Or was the practice just one more example of the adage that power corrupts? But we should not...