WelCom June/July 2024
The Vatican has issued a decree outlining the many ways that Catholics can obtain a plenary indulgence during the 2025 Jubilee Year.
The decree allows Catholics to gain indulgences by making pilgrimages, prayerful visits to specific churches, or works of mercy during the holy year.
A plenary indulgence is a grace granted by the Catholic Church through the merits of Jesus Christ to remove the temporal punishment due to sin.
The indulgence applies to sins already forgiven. A plenary indulgence cleanses the soul as if the person had just been baptised. To obtain an indulgence, the usual conditions of detachment from all sin, sacramental confession, Holy Communion, and prayer for the intentions of the Pope must be met.
Here are some of the many ways one can obtain indulgences during the 2025 Jubilee Year: Catholics who make a pilgrimage to Rome during the 2025 Jubilee Year can obtain a plenary indulgence by visiting at least one of the four major papal basilicas: St Peter’s Basilica; the Archbasilica of St John Lateran; St Mary Major; or St Paul Outside the Walls.
The Apostolic Penitentiary, the Vatican body charged with the granting and use of indulgences, also grants plenary indulgences specifically for making pilgrimage to churches in Rome connected to great female saints.
The Apostolic Penitentiary lists visiting prisoners, spending time with lonely elderly people, aiding the sick or disabled, and helping those who are in need as instances to obtain an indulgence.
Acts of penance can also obtain a plenary indulgence. The Vatican lists several options: abstaining for at least one day a week from ‘futile distractions’ such as social media or television; fasting; offering support to migrants, the elderly, the poor, young people in difficulty, and abandoned children; and volunteering.
Source: CNA News