JUBILEE EDUCATION #1  –  FEBRUARY 8&9, 2025

Prepared by: Rishi Ramdass (Tumpuna Road) and Maria Byron (COH)

 

Taking a Closer Look at  the Back Cover of the Pilgrim’s Passport

 

Look at the back cover of the Pilgrim’s Passport. It outlines the requirements for a Plenary Indulgence.

A plenary indulgence is a special grace of this Jubilee. Before 1967, obtaining one was common, but abuses led Pope Paul VI to revise the decree reducing their number and specifying conditions to obtain one. A Jubilee Year is one opportunity. 

 

What is a plenary indulgence? It is the full  remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins already forgiven.  A plenary indulgence cleanses the soul as if the person had just been baptized.

 

You can read the requirements on the passport. 

However, understandably because of space, some noteworthy details are not stated: What are these?

1. There is a  mandatory requirement that is not explicitly listed

You need to be in a state of grace (not in mortal or venial sin)

You must have complete detachment from sin, even venial sin. 

 

2.    You can obtain a plenary indulgence every day as long as you fulfil all the requirements. 

 

3.     A single sacramental confession suffices for several plenary indulgences.

The Church allows confession within a period of 20 days before or after completing steps for the Plenary Indulgence. 

However, it recommends that communion, the prayer for the Pope’s intentions and the act for the indulgence occur on the same day. 

Frequent confessions are encouraged.

 

4.    You can obtain TWO plenary indulgences in one day.  The second will be for a soul in purgatory.  

A decree by the Apostolic Penitentiary reads: “Despite the rule that only one plenary indulgence can be obtained per day, the faithful who have carried out an act of charity on behalf of the souls in purgatory, if they receive holy Communion a second time that day, can obtain the plenary indulgence twice on the same day, applicable only to the deceased.”

      INDEED you can dedicate ALL TWO indulgences to souls in purgatory.

 

• However, you have to fulfil the requirements for each indulgence separately.

 

• For the first plenary, you complete the mandated requirements  and the act for the indulgence 

 

• For the second on the same day, you must also complete the mandated requirements . You must receive Communion  - YES WE CAN RECEIVE COMMUNION TWICE IN A DAY -  And pray for the Pope’s intentions. (Remember the statement above from the Apostolic penitentiary)

 

• If you had done a pilgrimage for the first indulgence,  you may  use the other option - Carry out a Work of Mercy (Spiritual or Corporal) or Work of Penance.

 Pope Francis describes any of these works as “a pilgrimage to Christ present in the person for whom the work is carried out.” 

 

5.       Is a pilgrimage always required? 

 NO but pilgrimages are encouraged because of their significance as “journeys”

Jubilee pilgrimages suggest spiritual transformation. By passing through the Jubilee Door, the pilgrim is committing to enter into a renewed relationship with God through Our Lord who is the “door” to our salvation. 

Hence, a pilgrimage should be made in deep faith and toward the special grace of a plenary indulgence. 

 

In closing……the Jubilee invites us to embrace God’s boundless grace through the plenary indulgence available to us until December 28.

So don’t just get stamps on the passport.  Let each stamp represent a transformative encounter with God’s loving mercy.