November, month for the dead: How to gain indulgences?

The Catholic Church dedicates the month of November, in a special way, to prayer for the faithful departed. This time invites believers to offer masses, prayers and works of mercy for the souls in Purgatory.

Throughout the month of November there is the possibility of gaining plenary indulgences for the deceased, as was done during the years of the pandemic. Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, Major Penitentiary, explained that this practice “is a deeply felt form of devotion, which is expressed by participating in Mass and visiting cemeteries,” recalling that the indulgence “is a sign of God's tenderness and of the communion between the pilgrim Church and the purgative Church.”.

How do I obtain a plenary indulgence for the deceased?

According to the Indulgences Manual, The faithful can obtain plenary indulgences - applicable only to the souls in Purgatory - by fulfilling the following conditions:

1. Visiting a cemetery and praying, even mentally, for the deceased.
2. Visit a church or oratory on November 2 (Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed) and recite the Our Father and the Credo.
3. Go to sacramental confession, receive Holy Communion and pray for the Pope's intentions (an Our Father and a Hail Mary are enough).
4. To be free from all affection for sin, even venial sin.

Those who are unable to leave home for serious or health reasons may also obtain the indulgence by spiritually joining in the prayers of the Church, praying for the deceased before an image of the Lord or of the Virgin Mary.

The Mass, the greatest help for the souls in Purgatory

The Church teaches that the Holy Mass is the most powerful offering that can be made for the deceased, since it is the same sacrifice of Christ renewed in an unbloody manner on the altar.
This is what Pope Benedict XV recalled in his Apostolic Constitution Incruentum Altaris (1915), in which he granted all the priests of the world the faculty to celebrate three Masses on November 2, one for the intention of their choice, another for all the faithful departed and a third for the intentions of the Holy Father.
The Pope stressed that “the sacrifice of the altar has the greatest power to atone for the souls that rest in Christ,” and invited the faithful to attend these Masses with devotion, so that “an immense wave of relief” may reach the souls in Purgatory.

The spiritual meaning of indulgences

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that the indulgence is "the remission before God of the temporal punishment for sins, already forgiven, as far as guilt is concerned, which a faithful person willing and fulfilling certain conditions obtains through the mediation of the Church, which, as the administrator of redemption, distributes and applies with authority the treasure of the satisfactions of Christ and the saints.".

God forgives their sins to those who, after having committed a sin, repent through the sacrament of confession. However, there remains a "pending responsibility" for the consequences that the sin has had for the same person or for others, or even for society in general. This consequence is called "temporal punishment" and is a debt that persists and must be paid either in this life or in Purgatory.

It is then that the Church, the administrator of redemption, can grant indulgences that can fully or partially suppress (depending on whether it is a plenary or partial indulgence) this temporal punishment for sins committed and confessed up to that moment.

During this month, the Church invites the faithful to pray for their deceased loved ones, to participate in the Eucharist, and to offer works of mercy as a sign of love and communion with the Purging Church.
Every indulgence gained is an act of spiritual charity that opens heaven to souls awaiting purification.