The Catechism of the Summa - Tertia Pars - XL. OF THE MINISTER OF THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE, AND OF THE POWER OF THE KEYS: OF ABSOLUTION; OF INDULGENCES; OF THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS; AND OF EXCOMMUNICATION (D)

(D)
Who can thus concede indulgences?

He alone has the power to concede indulgences to whom the treasures of the merits of Christ and the saints are confided, by reason of the power he has received of binding or loosing those who belong to the mystical Body of Jesus Christ on earth, that is to say the Sovereign Pontiff. But also bishops may grant certain indulgences, according as is determined by the Sovereign Pontiff, to those who come under their jurisdiction (XXVII. 1-3).

What follows from so marvellous a power existing in the Catholic Church, and in it alone, by reason of the supreme authority of the Sovereign Pontiff?

From this marvellous power, joined as it is to the power of the keys in the sacrament of Penance, and in a general way in all that touches the communication in the merits of Jesus Christ, it follows that there can be no greater blessedness for man on earth than to be incorporated, by Baptism, in the Catholic Church, and to have the power of participating in all the rights and privileges which Baptism confers. He is thereby in perfect communion with all its members and with its head, the Roman Pontiff to whose care are confided all the treasures of those spiritual goods that can be distributed among men.

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