Last month, I wrote about the church’s ancient and venerable tradition of pilgrimage and Pope Francis’s call for us to be “pilgrims of hope” during this Jubilee Year.
Many readers have expressed further interest, curiosity and even confusion about the plenary indulgence attached to the Jubilee pilgrimage. So this month, I offer a quick review of indulgences and practical steps to get them.
Indulgences — didn’t we get rid of those? There was a big to-do during the Reformation around practices that amounted to buying and selling indulgences. The exchange of money obviously invited corruption and is no longer permitted, but the indulgence itself remains one of the wonderful graces offered by our church.
The word indulgence means leniency — a release from punishment or debt. When you truly indulge in a rich dessert, you don’t count the calories. You release yourself from any penalty you might normally assess. A spiritual indulgence, similarly, is a release from the punishment due for sin.
An indulgence is not a substitute for confession; it always occurs together with sacramental penance. Even after our sins are forgiven by the priest in the confessional, there remains some kind of atonement to make things right. This could be part of the assigned earthly penance or something to be cleansed during our time in purgatory. An indulgence frees us from that. The word “plenary” means “total,” so a plenary indulgence releases all of our remaining punishment for sins.
There are certain conditions for receiving an indulgence. The most important one is an attitude of sincere repentance and the desire to live a holy life. Just as an indulgence cannot be bought, it also cannot be obtained by simply going through the motions. Additionally, you must receive the Eucharist, go to sacramental confession and pray for the pope’s intentions, which are listed on the USCCB website, usccb.org. For example, the February intention is for vocations to the priesthood and religious life.
In the case of the plenary indulgence for the Jubilee Year of Hope, all of this is combined with a visit to one of the pilgrimage sites or some other charitable work as described in the Holy Father’s decree. And this is not your only opportunity.
The church frequently announces plenary indulgences on special occasions, such as the Eucharistic Revival, the Pope’s Easter blessing, Divine Mercy Sunday and many others.
You can repeat all of this as often as you like (but not more than once per day). Indulgences can be applied either to oneself or to a deceased person who may be in purgatory, but not to other living persons.
The truth is that none of us really knows the exact calculus of divine judgment nor how time works in the next life. The point of indulgences is not to collect the exact right number or to build up a reserve. Rather, through the grace of indulgences, the church offers us an opportunity to receive mercy — the radical, extravagant, indulgent mercy of Jesus.
