PLENARY INDULGENCE OF THE
JUBILEE YEAR 2025
Our Holy Father Pope Francis has granted a special plenary indulgence to everyone who observes the Jubilee Year 2025.
“All the faithful, who are truly repentant and free from any affection for sin, who are moved by a spirit of charity and who, during the Holy Year, purified through the sacrament of penance and refreshed by Holy Communion, pray for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff, will be able to obtain from the treasury of the Church a plenary indulgence, with remission and forgiveness of all their sins, which can be applied in suffrage to the souls in Purgatory…” (Degree on the Granting of the Indulgence during the Ordinary Jubilee Year 2025)
A Catholic would gain this special Jubilee Year Indulgence by doing the following:
--make a sacramental Confession before, during or after visiting the pilgrimage site,
--receive the Eucharist at Mass before, during or after visiting the pilgrimage site,
--make a profession of faith and offer prayers for the Holy Father’s intentions.
Pilgrims may also observe the following, in addition to and in conjunction with the above mentioned conditions:
--at one of the designated pilgrimage churches participate in Mass, or the Sacrament of Penance, or some other devotion (like the Liturgy of the Word, Liturgy of the Hours, Stations of the Cross, the Rosary, or other devotion being celebrated at the Pilgrimage church)
--at one of the designated pilgrimage churches spend time in Eucharistic Adoration or meditation before the Tabernacle and conclude this time with the
Our Father, the Profession of Faith (Nicene or Apostles’ Creed) and invocations to Mary, the Mother of God.
For those who cannot make a Pilgrimage to one of the Jubilee churches (the sick, elderly, those confined to the home, those incarcerated) can also obtain this Jubilee Indulgence, if united in spirit with the faithful who do go on Pilgrimage, they recite the Our Father, the Profession of Faith and other prayers (e.g. the Jubilee Prayer) in their homes or wherever they are confined.
In addition, the faithful will be able to obtain the Jubilee Year 2025 Indulgence:
-If, with a devout spirit, they participate in popular missions, spiritual exercises, or formation activities on the documents of the Second Vatican Council and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, held in a church or other suitable place.
-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 within Mass a second time that day, can obtain the plenary indulgence twice on the same day, applicable only to the deceased. Through this double act, a praiseworthy exercise of supernatural charity is carried out, by which the faithful still journeying on earth are united in the mystical Body of Christ with those who have already completed their journey.
-In a special way "during the Holy Year, we are called to be tangible signs of hope for those of our brothers and sisters who experience hardships of any kind." The faithful, following the example and mandate of Christ, are encouraged to carry out works of charity or mercy more frequently, especially in the service of those brothers and sisters who are burdened by various needs. More especially, they should rediscover these “corporal works of mercy: to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, welcome the stranger, heal the sick, visit the imprisoned, and bury the dead" and rediscover also "the spiritual works of mercy: to counsel the doubtful, instruct the ignorant, admonish sinners, comfort the afflicted, forgive offences, bear patiently those who do us ill, and pray for the living and the dead." In this way, the faithful will be able to obtain the Jubilee Indulgence if they visit, for an appropriate amount of time, their brothers and sisters who are in need or in difficulty (the sick, prisoners, lonely elderly people, disabled people...), in a sense making a pilgrimage to Christ present in them (cf. Mt 25, 34-36) according to the usual spiritual, sacramental and prayer conditions. The faithful can repeat these visits throughout the Holy Year, even daily, acquiring a plenary indulgence each time.
The Jubilee Plenary Indulgence can also be obtained through initiatives that put into practice, in a concrete and generous way, the spirit of penance which is, in a sense, the soul of the Jubilee:
-In particular the penitential nature of Friday can be rediscovered through abstaining, in a spirit of penance, at least for one day of the week from futile distractions (real but also virtual distractions, for example, the use of the media and/or social networks), from superfluous consumption (for example by fasting or practicing abstinence according to the general norms of the Church), as well as by donating a proportionate sum of money to the poor;
-by supporting works of a religious or social nature, especially in support of the defense and protection of life in all its phases, but also by supporting the quality of life of abandoned children, young people in difficulty, the needy or lonely elderly people, or migrants from various countries “who leave their homelands behind in search of a better life for themselves and for their families;
-it can also be obtained by dedicating a reasonable portion of one’s free time to voluntary activities that are of service to the community or to other similar forms of personal commitment.
