The jubilee year is a time when Catholics are especially encouraged to practice the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. The Apostolic Penitentiary lists visiting prisoners, spending time with lonely elderly people, aiding the sick or disabled, and helping those who are in need as instances to obtain an indulgence. Practicing the works of mercy, it says, is “in a sense making a pilgrimage to Christ present in them.”
Indulgences for works of mercy can be received multiple times throughout the jubilee year, even daily, according to the decree.
If the indulgence is being applied to the deceased, two plenary indulgences can be obtained on the same day.
The decree says: “Despite the rule that only one plenary indulgence can be obtained per day, the faithful who have carried out an act of charity on behalf of the souls in purgatory, if they receive holy Communion a second time that day, can obtain the plenary indulgence twice on the same day, applicable only to the deceased.”
Fast from social media, defend life, volunteer
Acts of penance can also obtain a plenary indulgence. The Vatican lists several options, including:
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Abstaining for at least one day a week from “futile distractions,” such as social media or television
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Fasting
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Donating “a proportionate sum of money to the poor”
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Supporting religious or social works, especially in the defense of life in all phases
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Offering support to migrants, the elderly, the poor, young people in difficulty, and abandoned children
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Volunteering in service to your community
“The jubilee plenary indulgence can also be obtained through initiatives that put into practice, in a concrete and generous way, the spirit of penance which is, in a sense, the soul of the jubilee,” the decree states.
Visit your local cathedral
Catholics can also gain a plenary indulgence by making a pious pilgrimage to their cathedral or to another church or shrine selected by the local bishop.
The Apostolic Penitentiary asks bishops to “take into account the needs of the faithful as well as the opportunity to reinforce the concept of pilgrimage with all its symbolic significance, so as to manifest the great need for conversion and reconciliation.”
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Vatican II formation
The Vatican decree also says that Catholics can get a jubilee indulgence “if with a devout spirit, they participate in popular missions, spiritual exercises, or formation activities on the documents of the Second Vatican Council and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, held in a church or other suitable place, according to the mind of the Holy Father.”
Pray in these basilicas
In addition to the churches already listed, other sacred places around the world have also been designated as places of pilgrimage where one can obtain a plenary indulgence:
In Italy:
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Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi
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Basilica of Our Lady of the Angels in Assisi
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Basilica of Our Lady of Loreto
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Basilica of Our Lady of Pompeii
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Basilica in St. Anthony in Padua