How to obtain the plenary indulgence?

May 13, 2024, a few days after the publication of the indiction bubble Spes not confused announcing the upcoming jubilee year in 2025, Pope Francis released a practical guide intended for Catholics who would like to obtain a plenary indulgence. This text written by the Apostolic Penitentiary, the supreme tribunal in charge of questions of confessions and indulgences, aims to explain to the faithful and future pilgrims of the Jubilee 2025, how to obtain forgiveness of their sins.

What are the conditions for obtaining this plenary indulgence?

Several steps and conditions exist to obtain this plenary indulgence during the Holy Year. All must be scrupulously respected and followed, in an ardent spirit of personal conversion and reconciliation:

• attend mass and take communion.

• take “a suitable time of Eucharistic adoration and mediation, concluded by the Our Father, the Creed, and the invocation to Mary, Mother of God” then pray for the intentions of the Holy Father.

• Make a pilgrimage to any place linked to the Jubilee. The four Roman papal basilicas (Saint Peter in the Vatican, Saint John Lateran, Saint Mary Major and Saint Paul Outside the Walls), the three basilicas of the Holy Land (the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem and the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth), the two minor papal basilicas of Assisi (the Basilica Sainte-Marie-des-Anges and the basilica of Saint-François), as well as the pontifical basilicas of Notre-Dame-de-Lorette in Loreto, of Saint-Antoine-de-Padoue in Padua and of the Blessed Virgin of the Holy Rosary in Pompeii are among the places of pilgrimage. Marian sanctuaries, cathedrals and places of worship previously defined by local bishoprics could also be jubilee places.

The pope also proposes receiving the indulgence through participation in so-called works of mercy and penance, by “following the example and commandment of Christ”. Therefore, “during the Jubilee Year, we will be called to be tangible signs of hope for many brothers and sisters who live in conditions of distress” (Spes non con fundit10). Several actions will be possible:

• volunteer to help the most vulnerable (elderly, disabled, migrants, homeless, etc.).

• do spiritual exercises such as those of Saint Ignatius of Loyola.

• visit people in difficulty (infirm, prisoners, isolated elderly people, disabled people, etc.).

• support religious and social works.

• attend training meetings on the texts of the Second Vatican Council and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, in a church or other suitable location.

Perceived as an inestimable gift of forgiveness and divine grace, this indulgence will help everyone to fully live “the living experience of God’s love” (Spes not confused6). Already, during the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy in 2015, Francis expressed “the particular importance” of this indulgence which becomes “indulgence of the Father who joins the forgiven sinner (…) and frees him from all that remains of the consequences of sin” .