Unigenitus (1343)


Unigenitus is a papal bull promulgated by Pope Clement VI on January 27, 1343. It designated the year 1350 as a year of Jubilee and set the tradition for a Jubilee to be held every fifty years.
The bull dogmatically defined the existence of an infinite treasury of merits in the Catholic Church, leading to the condemnation by Pope Leo X, in the bull Exsurge Domine, of Martin Luther's assertion that "the treasures of the Church from which the pope grants indulgences are not the merits of Christ and the saints".

Historical context

In 1300, Pope Boniface VIII proclaimed the year A.D. 1300 as a year of Jubilee and set a schedule wherein a Jubilee year would be held every 100 years. However, upon the election of Pope Clement VI in 1342, the Roman people, suffering the absence of their Pope and general turmoil in the Italian Papal States, requested Clement to hold a Jubilee. Clement obliged, and in 1343 promulgated the bull Unigenitus, which set the year A.D. 1350 as a year of Jubilee.

Content

Clement VI begins by explaining that the merits of Jesus Christ are infinitely superabundant and are thus stored as a thesaurus, or treasure, within the Catholic Church. Added to this are the merits of the Virgin Mary and the Saints:
Clement VI then cites the historical precedent of Pope Boniface VIII's declaration of a Jubilee in the year 1300 and every hundred years thereafter. He changes this to every fiftieth year in accord with Mosaic Law and because of the common desire for a Jubilee amongst the people:
Lastly, Clement sets forth the requirements for the attainment of an indulgence during the year of Jubilee. Those living in Rome must visit the basilicas of the Apostles Peter and Paul and the Lateran for at least 30 successive days; foreigners for at least 15 successive days. All must be truly repentant and must have made a good Confession:

Martin Luther

On 12–15 October 1518, at the Imperial Diet of Augsburg, Cardinal Cajetan questioned Martin Luther about Luther's views on indulgences, as he had seen them expressed in Luther's Sermon on Penance, as well as his 1518 Resolutions on Indulgences, which elaborated on the famous Ninety-five Theses. Cajetan thought that Luther's views directly contradicted the papal bull Unigenitus, and that Conclusion VII from the Resolutions on Indulgences taught a "new and erroneous doctrine". Luther answered that the papal bull carried no weight with him because it abused and twisted the words of scripture, which were, in contrast, correctly interpreted in his own writings. In the next day of his questioning, having asked to be heard in writing, Luther produced a lengthy scroll attacking the papal decree and the pope in disputational style, and adducing a lot of scriptural material to support his view on the sacraments. Cajetan was not impressed, but the questioning ended without any retraction from Luther.