Remission of the temporal punishment due to sins, after
   the guilt of sin has been remitted by sincere repentance; absolution
   from the censures and public penances of the church. It is a payment of
   the debt of justice to God by the application of the merits of Christ
   and his saints to the contrite soul through the church. It is therefore
   believed to diminish or destroy for sins the punishment of purgatory.