The Apostolic Penitentiary has confirmed and extended for the entire month of November 2021 all the spiritual benefits normally granted only during the Octave of the Faithful Departed.

Newsroom (29/10/2021 15:00, Gaudium Press) The Apostolic Penitentiary issued a decree on Thursday, October 28th, extending the granting of plenary indulgences to the faithful departed to the entire month of November, instead of just during the first eight days of the month.

The decision was made after numerous requests were made recently by several ministers of the Church, due to the pandemic. In this way, the Apostolic Penitentiary confirmed and extended all spiritual benefits for the entire month of November 2021.

Decree repeats decision made in 2020

Last year, more specifically on October 22, 2020, a similar decree also established that plenary indulgences for the faithful departed be extended throughout the month of November.

Both decrees were intended to address the need to avoid crowds, which are a potential cause of the spread of Covid-19, which still affects the world’s population to varying degrees.

Plenary Indulgence

“From the renewed generosity of the Church the faithful will surely draw pious intentions and spiritual vigor to direct their own lives according to the law of the Gospel, in filial communion and devotion to the Supreme Pontiff, the visible foundation and Shepherd of the Catholic Church,” an excerpt from the text reads.

Therefore, all the faithful who, during the month of November, visit cemeteries praying for the dead, and visit a church or oratory and recite the ‘Our Father’ and the ‘Creed’ there, will receive a plenary indulgence, which before the decree was foreseen only for the first eight days of November. (EPC)