Pope Francis Grants Plenary Indulgence to Those Affected by Coronavirus

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. St Paul 

Pope Francis has granted a Plenary Indulgence to all of us who suffer from the Coronavirus.

Those who are subject to quarantine, health care workers, family members and all those who care for those who are sick with Coronavirus are all granted this Plenary Indulgence if their hearts are “detached from any sin,” and they do one of the following:

1. Unite spiritually through the media with the celebration of Holy Mass,
2. Recite the Rosary,
3. Prayerfully follow the Way of the Cross, 
4.  … at least recite the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer and a pious invocation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, offering this trial in a spirit of faith in God and charity towards their brothers and sisters.

The usual conditions for gaining a Plenary Indulgence are to go to confession, take communion, and pray for the Holy Father’s intentions. The Pope acknowledges that this present crisis makes that difficult or impossible for some people by granting this Plenary Indulgence if you intend to fulfill these obligations as soon as possible. 

Pope Francis also grants a Plenary Indulgence to the rest of us if we will, with the purpose of imploring “from almighty God the end of the epidemic, relief for those who are afflicted and eternal salvation for those whom the Lord has called to Himself,” do one of the following:

1. Visit the Blessed Sacrament,
2. Spend time in Eucharistic Adoration,
3. Read the Bible for at least half an hour,
4. Pray the Rosary,
5. Pray the Way of the Cross,
6. Pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet.

You must also fulfill the normal requirements for a plenary indulgence, which is to give up your attachments to your sins, go to confession and pray for the Pope’s prayer intentions. If you can’t do this now, you must do it as soon as you can and you must intend to do it.  

From Vatican News: 

The Plenary Indulgence is granted to the faithful suffering from Coronavirus, who are subject to quarantine by order of the health authority in hospitals or in their own homes if, with a spirit detached from any sin, they unite spiritually through the media to the celebration of Holy Mass, the recitation of the Holy Rosary, to the pious practice of the Way of the Cross or other forms of devotion, or if at least they will recite the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer and a pious invocation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, offering this trial in a spirit of faith in God and charity towards their brothers and sisters, with the will to fulfil the usual conditions (sacramental confession, Eucharistic communion and prayer according to the Holy Father’s intentions), as soon as possible.

Health care workers, family members and all those who, following the example of the Good Samaritan, exposing themselves to the risk of contagion, care for the sick of Coronavirus according to the words of the divine Redeemer: “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (Jn 15: 13), will obtain the same gift of the Plenary Indulgence under the same conditions.

This Apostolic Penitentiary also willingly grants a Plenary Indulgence under the same conditions on the occasion of the current world epidemic, also to those faithful who offer a visit to the Blessed Sacrament, or Eucharistic adoration, or reading the Holy Scriptures for at least half an hour, or the recitation of the Holy Rosary, or the pious exercise of the Way of the Cross, or the recitation of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, to implore from Almighty God the end of the epidemic, relief for those who are afflicted and eternal salvation for those whom the Lord has called to Himself.