An indulgence, the Catechism teaches, is the remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the Church grants from the treasury of the merits of Christ and the saints. It is plenary if it removes all of that punishment and partial if it removes part. An indulgence is never a forgiveness of sin, which comes only through repentance and the sacrament of Penance; it is the Church's help to a Christian who has been forgiven and wants to be wholly healed of the effects of sin, in this life or in purgatory. The conditions below are those of the Church's Manual of Indulgences, summarised by the Apostolic Penitentiary in The Gift of the Indulgence.

What you need

• A work to which the Church has attached a plenary indulgence (see step 2)
• Sacramental confession, within about twenty days before or after the work
• Holy Communion, preferably on the day of the work
• Prayer for the Holy Father's intentions — an Our Father and a Hail Mary suffice
• The interior disposition of being free from all attachment to sin, even venial sin

When to pray it

Whenever you perform an indulgenced work; a plenary indulgence can be gained only once a day (except at the moment of death). Certain days carry special grants: All Souls' Day for the visit to a church, November 1 to 8 for the visit to a cemetery, and the days of a Jubilee year.

Steps

1. 1

   Step 1: Understand what an indulgence is and is not

   Sin has two consequences: guilt, which separates us from God and is forgiven in confession, and a disordered attachment to created things that remains even after forgiveness and must be purified, here or in purgatory; this purification is what the Catechism calls temporal punishment. An indulgence is the Church, exercising the power of binding and loosing given to Peter, applying the merits of Christ and the saints to remit that punishment. It presupposes forgiveness; it cannot be bought, and it does not excuse anyone from repentance or conversion. It is a gift, and the Church attaches it to works of prayer, penance and charity precisely to encourage them.

Tips

• Do not be discouraged by the condition of detachment from sin. If it is lacking, the indulgence is still gained as partial, and the honest attempt is itself a grace.
• One confession serves for several plenary indulgences, but each one needs its own Communion and its own prayer for the Pope.
• Form the intention at least in a general way — 'I wish to gain any indulgences I can' — since indulgences are gained only by those who intend to gain them.
• The indulgence can be applied to yourself or to a soul in purgatory, never to another living person.

Related devotions

• Devotion to the Holy Souls in Purgatory