Do indulgences forgive sins, or can they be bought?

Defined dogma Current norm What the Church holds

Neither. An indulgence remits temporal punishment “for sins, whose guilt is forgiven” (N1); forgiveness comes through contrition and the Sacrament of Penance. Trent defended indulgences as “most salutary”, and in the same decree ordered “that all evil gains for the obtaining thereof … be wholly abolished” (Session XXV).