Pope grants Plenary Indulgence for the Year of the Eucharist

(Vatican News Service) - The Apostolic Penitentiary has issued a decree stating: "the Holy Father wished to enrich with indulgences several determined acts of worship and devotion to the Most Holy Sacrament . . .". This came as a result of a meeting that the Holy Father had with Cardinal James Francis Stafford and Fr. John Francis Girotti, OFM.Conv. on December 25, 2004. The Decree is in force during the Year of the Eucharist as of the date of its publication.

In order to receive a Plenary Indulgence there are certain conditions that must be met: sacramental confession, Eucharistic communion and prayer in keeping with the intentions of the Holy Father, and the soul must be completely removed from attachment to any form of sin. This Plenary Indulgence is granted to all individuals each and every time they participate attentively and piously in a sacred function or a devotional exercise in which they honor the Blessed Sacrament, solemnly exposed and conserved in the tabernacle.

The Plenary Indulgence may also be received by the clergy, religious and those in Societies of Apostolic Life, as well as other faithful who are obliged by law to recite the Liturgy of the Hours, and to those who usually recite the Divine Office out of pure devotion, each time they recite at the end of the day, Vespers and Night Prayer before the Lord present in the tabernacle.

The Plenary Indulgence may also be received by the faithful in their own homes, who are ill or with a just cause, are unable to visit the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist in a church or oratory. This is possible if the faithful have the intention of observing the three usual conditions as soon as possible and they make the visit spiritually and with the heart's desire. They must recite the Our Father and the Creed and add a pious invocation to Jesus in the Sacrament.

"If they are unable to do even this, they will receive a Plenary Indulgence if they unite themselves with interior desire to those who practice the normal conditions laid down for Indulgences, and offer the merciful God the illnesses and discomforts of their lives."