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DECREE

This year, in the current circumstances due to the “Covid-19” pandemic, the Plenary Indulgences for the deceased faithful will be extended throughout the entire month of November, with adaptation of works and conditions to guarantee the safety of the faithful.

This Apostolic Penitentiary has received many petitions from holy Pastors who have asked that this year, due to the “Covid-19” epidemic, pious works be commuted in order to obtain the Plenary Indulgences applicable to souls in Purgatory, in accordance with the Manual of Indulgences (conc. 29, § 1). For this reason, the Apostolic Penitentiary, on the special mandate of His Holiness Pope Francis, willingly establishes and decides that this year, in order to avoid gatherings where they are forbidden:

a.- the Plenary Indulgence for those who visit a cemetery and pray for the deceased, even if only mentally, normally established only on the individual days from 1 to 8 November, may be transferred to other days of the same month, until its end. These days, freely chosen by the individual believers, may also be separate from each other;

b- the Plenary Indulgence of 2 November, established on the occasion of the Commemoration of all the deceased faithful for those who piously visit a church or oratory and recite the “Our Father” and the “Creed” there, may be transferred not only to the Sunday before or after or on the day of the Solemnity of All Saints, but also to another day of the month of November, freely chosen by the individual faithful.

The elderly, the sick and all those who for serious reasons cannot leave their homes, for example because of restrictions imposed by the competent authority in this time of the pandemic, in order to prevent numerous faithful from crowding into the holy places, will be able to obtain the Plenary Indulgence as long as they join spiritually with all the other faithful, completely detached from sin and with the intention of complying as soon as possible with the three usual conditions (sacramental confession, Eucharistic communion and prayer according to the Holy Father’s intentions), before an image of Jesus or the Blessed Virgin Mary, recite pious prayers for the deceased, for example, Lauds and Vespers of the Office of the Dead, the Marian Rosary, the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, other prayers for the deceased dearest to the faithful, or occupy themselves in considered reading of one of the Gospel passages proposed by the liturgy of the deceased, or perform a work of mercy by offering to God the sorrows and hardships of their own lives.

For an easier attainment of divine grace through pastoral charity, this Penitentiary earnestly prays that all priests with the appropriate faculties offer themselves with particular generosity to the celebration of the Sacrament of Penance and administer Holy Communion to the sick.

However, as far as the spiritual conditions for fully achieving the Indulgence are concerned, it is worth recalling the indications already issued in the “Note on the Sacrament of Reconciliation in the current pandemic” issued by the Apostolic Penitentiary on 19 March 2020.

Finally, since the souls in Purgatory are assisted by the prayers of the faithful and especially by the sacrifice of the Altar to God (cf. Conc. Tr. Sess. XXV, decr. De Purgatorio), all priests are strongly invited to celebrate Holy Mass three times on the day of the Commemoration of all the deceased faithful, in accordance with the Apostolic Constitution “Incruentum Altaris“, issued by Pope Benedict XV, of venerable memory, on 10 August 1915.

This Decree is valid throughout the entire month of November, notwithstanding any provision to the contrary.

Given in Rome, from the seat of the Apostolic Penitentiary, on 22 October 2020, memorial of Saint John Paul II.

Maurus Card. Piacenza

Paenitentiarius Maior

                                                                                                                  Sacred Heart of Jesus, Sacred Heart Raleigh NC

Remember, O most loving Heart of Jesus, that they for whom I pray are those for whom You prayed so earnestly the night before Your death. These are they to whom You look to continue with You in Your sorrows when others forsake You, who share Your griefs and have inherited your persecutions, according to Your word: That the servant is not greater than his Lord.

Remember, O Heart of Jesus, that they are the objects of the world's hatred and Satan's deadliest snares. Keep them then, 0 Jesus, in the safe citadel of Your Sacred Heart and there let them be sanctified in truth.

May they be one with you and one among themselves, and grant that multitudes may be brought through their word to believe in You and love You. Amen.

Source: CAPG

The principal object of the devotion to the Holy Face is to offer respectful love and homage to the Adorable Face of Jesus disfigured in the Passion; to make reparation for blasphemy and the neglect of Holy Days, which outrages Him afresh; and, lastly, to obtain of God the conversion of sinners and profaners of the Holy Day,

There are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be in any way similar or even remotely analogous to God's plan for marriage and family. Marriage is holy, while homosexual acts go against the natural moral law. Homosexual acts “close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved”.

Source: Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Considerations Regarding Proposals to give Legal Recognition to Unions between Homosexual Persons

In the old time there were three great ministries or offices by means of which God spoke to His chosen people, the Israelites, or , as they were afterwards called the Jews, viz. that of Priest, that of King, and that of Prophet.

Those who were chose by God for one or other of these offices were solemnly anointed with oil - oil signifying the grace of God, which was given to them for the due performance of their high duties. But our Lord was all three, a Priest, a Prophet, and a King - a Priest, because He offered Himself as a sacrifice for our sins; a Prophet, because He revealed to us the Holy Law of God; and a King, because He rules over us. Thus He is the one true Christ.

source: Meditations and Devotions, by Cardinal John Henry Newman, 1893

                                                                                                                    Sacred Heart, Brittany France, @VP

O Sacred Heart of Jesus, in Thine excessive love for men, in order to redeem souls and save them for heaven, Thou didst shed Thy Precious Blood. With all the fervor of our hearts we beg of Thee to accompany with Thy blessing and Thy grace the labors of priests for the salvation of souls. Grant that with all zeal they may preach Thy sacred doctrine, that they may move to repentance the hearts of sinners, that they may strengthen the good in virtue.

Keep far from our congregation the assaults of the evil one; ward off all scandal and seduction, enmities and envy, uncharitable and bad example. Let Thy love and Thy grace abide in all hearts, that we may strive with great fervor to reach our eternal goal, to avoid sin, to practice virtue, and to encourage each other by a devout life, so that in the everlasting happiness of heaven above we may rejoice in union with Thee. Amen.

O Divine Heart of Jesus, convert sinners, save the dying, deliver the holy souls in purgatory.

Source: CAPG

Blessed be the Divine Providence of God, who in this age of trials has appointed the great St. Joseph Patron of the Universal Church.

Infinite praise, honor, glory and thanksgiving, at every moment, from every creature, and for all eternity, be to Jesus,

who is ever with His Church, and protects her in every trial and in every necessity.

Foster-father Joseph, our guide, protect us and holy Church.

O most holy Patriarch St. Joseph! ever protect the holy Church of Jesus; humble her enemies, confound their wisdom, and defeat their plots.

O great St. Joseph! obtain from Jesus, for His Church, holy Popes, holy prelates, holy priests, and holy religious. Amen.

Source: St. Joseph, his life, his virtues, his privileges, his power: a month of March in his honor, 1884.

Source: The Bulletin June 1945

I salute, adore, and love Thee, O Jesus, my Savior, covered anew with outrages by blasphemers, and I offer Thee, through the heart of Thy blessed Mother, the worship of all the Angels and Saints, as an incense and a perfume of sweet odor, most humbly beseeching Thee, by the virtue of Thy Sacred Face, to repair and renew in me and in all men Thy image disfigured by sin. Amen

Source: Veronica, or the Holy Face of Our Lord Jesus Christ 1871

 Persons out of the Church have no other idea of worship than united prayer. They are utterly ignorant of the doctrine of Sacrifice. With an appalling blindness they are blind to the true worship of God. The highest and holiest act of religion is unknown to them; is as if God had never ordained it. If they speak of Mass, they only speak of it to blaspheme. We can therefore easily see how wisely the Church acts in this matter when she ordains Mass must be said in Latin. And if in some parts of the East other languages are allowed, yet the are ancient languages, long forgotten, which the people generally do not understand. This is a great safeguard of the true doctrine. And thus everyone, unfettered by the letter of any book, can assist at the great Sacrifice which the High Priest after the order of Mechisedech offers on the Altar by the hands of His Ministers; and can bring, as and when he pleases, all his joys and griefs and perplexities and fears and thanksgivings to God, and lay them at His Feet. His prayers are not cramped or hindered by formal words unsuitable to him at the time, but in the liberty of the Spirit, and in the freedom wherewith Christ hath made him free, he can make known with confidence all his wants to God. It is different of course with the Priest who says Mass. He must use the prescribed form of words, for he offers the Sacrifice not in his own name, but in the name and as it were in the person of our Lord. But when he hears Mass he can pray with the same liberty as others. It is of this worship our Lord spoke when He said, “the true adorers shall adore the Father in spirit and in truth.” “God is a Spirit; and they that adore Him must adore Him in spirit and in truth.”

Mass therefore being the very holiest and highest act of worship, we ought to assist at it with intense reverence and devotion. We ought to be very careful never to hear Mass carelessly, but try to gain from it all the fruit that we can, and give to God by it all the glory that we can.

Source: Septem or Seven Ways of Hearing Mass by Fr. Henry Augustus Rawes, O.S.C.