The Vatican published on Monday a guide intended for the faithful wishing to obtain forgiveness for their sins, in particular by making a pilgrimage or through “works of mercy and penance”.
“The truly repentant faithful […] will obtain from the treasury of the Church a full indulgence, remission and forgiveness of their sins,” explains Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, who serves as major penitentiary, in a Vatican press release.
These explanations are published ahead of the Ordinary Jubilee of 2025, a “Holy Year” during which some 32 million pilgrims from around the world are expected in Rome.
Indeed, on this occasion, the plenary indulgence – the forgiveness of sins – is granted under certain conditions. It was Pope Boniface VIII who established this tradition in Rome in 1300.
Hence this clarification on Monday from the Vatican, which lists “the conditions for the concession and receipt of the indulgence” during the jubilee, even if the ordinary ways of obtaining the indulgence remain in force, in particular the confession of sins.
The faithful will be able to benefit from it if they make a pilgrimage to Rome to one of the four papal basilicas (Saint Peter in the Vatican, Saint John Lateran, Saint Mary Major, Saint Paul outside the -Walls), or in the Holy Land in one of the three basilicas (Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, the Nativity in Bethlehem, and the Annunciation in Nazareth).
The faithful can alternatively visit “a jubilee place”, in Rome, Assisi (the city of Saint Francis in Umbria) or Padua (the city of Saint Anthony in Veneto), where “they will experience a suitable time of Eucharistic adoration” .
Those who cannot travel are, however, not forgotten since they can obtain indulgence “by piously participating in popular missions, spiritual exercises, or training meetings on religious texts”, or “by visiting during sufficient time for people in difficulty (infirm, prisoners, isolated elderly people, disabled people, etc.).”
Another solution: participate in “initiatives which concretely and generously implement the spirit of penitence”, for example by rediscovering “the penitential value of Friday, by abstaining, at least for a day, from futile distractions (real or virtual, conveyed by the media and social networks), of superfluous consumption, as well as by allocating a sum of money to the poor.
Indulgences have had a sulphurous reputation within Christianity since the time when they were sold for hard cash, a practice denounced in particular by Martin Luther and John Calvin. The “Indulgences quarrel” was also one of the causes of the schism between Catholics and Protestants.