Vatican Releases Decree on Plenary Indulgences for the Faithfully Departed during the COVID-19 Pandemic - FULL TEXT
DECREE
This year, in the current contingencies due to the "covid-19" pandemic,
the plenary indulgences for the deceased faithful will be extended for the entire month of November,
with adaptation of the works and conditions to ensure the safety of the faithful.
This Apostolic Penitentiary received not a few pleas from Sacred Shepherds who asked that this year, due to the "covid-19" epidemic, the pious works be commuted to achieve the plenary indulgences applicable to the souls in Purgatory, in accordance with of the Manual of Indulgences (conc. 29, § 1). For this reason, the Apostolic Penitentiary, on a special mandate from His Holiness Pope Francis, willingly establishes and decides that this year, in order to avoid gatherings where they were prohibited:
a.- the plenary indulgence for those who visit a cemetery and pray for the dead even if only mentally, normally established only on the individual days from 1 to 8 November, can be transferred to other days of the same month until its end. These days, freely chosen by the individual faithful, can also be separated from each other;
b- the plenary indulgence of November 2, established on the occasion of the commemoration of all the faithful departed for those who piously visit a church or an oratory and recite the "Our Father" and the "Creed" there, can be transferred not only to Sunday preceding or following or on the day of the solemnity of All Saints, but also on another day of the month of November, at the free choice of the individual faithful.
The elderly, the sick and all those who for serious reasons cannot leave the house, for example due to restrictions imposed by the competent authority for the time of a pandemic, in order to prevent numerous faithful crowding into sacred places, will be able to achieve Plenary indulgence provided that, spiritually uniting with all the other faithful, completely detached from sin and with the intention of complying as soon as possible with the three usual conditions (sacramental confession, Eucharistic communion and prayer according to the intentions of the Holy Father), in front of an image of Jesus or of the Blessed Virgin Mary, recite pious prayers for the deceased, for example Lauds and Vespers of the Office of the Dead, the Marian Rosary, the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, other prayers for the deceased dearest to the faithful, or entertain themselves in the meditated reading of one of the Gospel passages proposed by the liturgy of the dead, or perform a work of mercy by offering pain and discomfort to God of one's life.
For an easier attainment of divine grace through pastoral charity, this penitentiary earnestly prays that all priests endowed with the appropriate faculties, offer themselves with particular generosity to the celebration of the sacrament of Penance and administer Holy Communion to the sick.
However, with regard to the spiritual conditions for fully achieving the Indulgence, we remind you to refer to the indications already issued in the note "About the Sacrament of Penance in the current pandemic situation", issued by this Apostolic Penitentiary on March 19, 2020.
Finally, since the souls in Purgatory are helped by the suffrages of the faithful and especially with the sacrifice of the Altar pleasing to God (cf. Conc. Tr. Sess. XXV, decr. De Purgatorio), all priests are warmly invited to celebrate three times the Holy Mass on the day of the commemoration of all the faithful departed, in accordance with the Apostolic Constitution "Incruentum Altaris", issued by Pope Benedict XV, of venerable memory, on 10 August 1915.
This Decree is valid for the whole month of November. Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary.
Given in Rome, from the headquarters of the Apostolic Penitentiary, on 22 October 2020, in memory of Saint John Paul II.
Maurus Card. Piacenza
Paenitentiarius Maior
Christophorus Nykiel
Regens
[01264-EN.01] [Original text: Latin]
This year, in the current contingencies due to the "covid-19" pandemic,
the plenary indulgences for the deceased faithful will be extended for the entire month of November,
with adaptation of the works and conditions to ensure the safety of the faithful.
This Apostolic Penitentiary received not a few pleas from Sacred Shepherds who asked that this year, due to the "covid-19" epidemic, the pious works be commuted to achieve the plenary indulgences applicable to the souls in Purgatory, in accordance with of the Manual of Indulgences (conc. 29, § 1). For this reason, the Apostolic Penitentiary, on a special mandate from His Holiness Pope Francis, willingly establishes and decides that this year, in order to avoid gatherings where they were prohibited:
a.- the plenary indulgence for those who visit a cemetery and pray for the dead even if only mentally, normally established only on the individual days from 1 to 8 November, can be transferred to other days of the same month until its end. These days, freely chosen by the individual faithful, can also be separated from each other;
b- the plenary indulgence of November 2, established on the occasion of the commemoration of all the faithful departed for those who piously visit a church or an oratory and recite the "Our Father" and the "Creed" there, can be transferred not only to Sunday preceding or following or on the day of the solemnity of All Saints, but also on another day of the month of November, at the free choice of the individual faithful.
The elderly, the sick and all those who for serious reasons cannot leave the house, for example due to restrictions imposed by the competent authority for the time of a pandemic, in order to prevent numerous faithful crowding into sacred places, will be able to achieve Plenary indulgence provided that, spiritually uniting with all the other faithful, completely detached from sin and with the intention of complying as soon as possible with the three usual conditions (sacramental confession, Eucharistic communion and prayer according to the intentions of the Holy Father), in front of an image of Jesus or of the Blessed Virgin Mary, recite pious prayers for the deceased, for example Lauds and Vespers of the Office of the Dead, the Marian Rosary, the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, other prayers for the deceased dearest to the faithful, or entertain themselves in the meditated reading of one of the Gospel passages proposed by the liturgy of the dead, or perform a work of mercy by offering pain and discomfort to God of one's life.
For an easier attainment of divine grace through pastoral charity, this penitentiary earnestly prays that all priests endowed with the appropriate faculties, offer themselves with particular generosity to the celebration of the sacrament of Penance and administer Holy Communion to the sick.
However, with regard to the spiritual conditions for fully achieving the Indulgence, we remind you to refer to the indications already issued in the note "About the Sacrament of Penance in the current pandemic situation", issued by this Apostolic Penitentiary on March 19, 2020.
Finally, since the souls in Purgatory are helped by the suffrages of the faithful and especially with the sacrifice of the Altar pleasing to God (cf. Conc. Tr. Sess. XXV, decr. De Purgatorio), all priests are warmly invited to celebrate three times the Holy Mass on the day of the commemoration of all the faithful departed, in accordance with the Apostolic Constitution "Incruentum Altaris", issued by Pope Benedict XV, of venerable memory, on 10 August 1915.
This Decree is valid for the whole month of November. Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary.
Given in Rome, from the headquarters of the Apostolic Penitentiary, on 22 October 2020, in memory of Saint John Paul II.
Maurus Card. Piacenza
Paenitentiarius Maior
Christophorus Nykiel
Regens
[01264-EN.01] [Original text: Latin]
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