Person

Pope Leo X

Documented money flows

REL-1.1: Pope Leo X's bull Sacrosanctis Salvatoris et Redemptoris nostri of 31 March 1515 opened an eight-year indulgence for the rebuilding of St. Peter's in the provinces of Mainz and Magdeburg and the Brandenburg lands. It named Archbishop Albert of Brandenburg and the guardian of the Observant Franciscans at Mainz as commissioners and granted plenary remission of sins in return for alms put into the chests, tied in the text to confession and absolution by a chosen confessor.
REL-1.2: According to Aloys Schulte's German translation of the Vatican documents, the envoys' petition of 1 August 1514 offered Leo X 10,000 ducats and asked that half the proceeds go to St. Peter's and half to Albert and the churches of Mainz, Magdeburg and Halberstadt. The motu proprio of 15 April 1515 records that Albert paid the 10,000 ducats and that no revocation or competing plenary indulgence would be allowed for eight years.
REL-1.8: The Ninety-Five Theses of 31 October 1517 raise money questions: why the pope's wealth does not build St. Peter's (thesis 86), that giving to the poor does better than buying pardons (theses 43 and 45), that the pope, if he knew the exactions of the pardon-preachers, would rather see St. Peter's go to ashes than have it built with the flesh of his sheep (50), and that the treasures of indulgences are nets to catch the riches of men (66).

Exhibit 398 31 October 1517. Martin Luther, University of Wittenberg: Disputation of Doctor Martin Luther on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences (the Ninety-Five Theses)
Exhibit 401 31 March 1515. Pope Leo X: Bull Sacrosanctis Salvatoris et Redemptoris nostri (St. Peter's indulgence for the provinces of Mainz and Magdeburg)
Exhibit 402 15 April 1515. Pope Leo X: Motu proprio to the Apostolic Chamber on the Mainz-Magdeburg indulgence