September 9, 1411 - Pope Gregory XII Authorizes Indulgences

For about 70 years starting in the late 1300’s, there were three men who all claimed to be the Pope at the same time. Known as the Avignon Captivity (because the Papal seat was moved from Rome to Avignon, France). The prevailing Pope was Gregory XII who issued the first papal edict authorizing indulgences on September 9, 1411. One church educator, Jan Hus from Prague, disagreed with the Pope’s edict, and he was burned at the stake four years later for his dissent.