Here’s How Catholics Can Get Eight Plenary Indulgences During the First Week of November
Catholics can obtain a plenary indulgence for departed souls on each day from Nov. 1 through Nov. 8 by devoutly visiting a cemetery and praying for the dead. The usual conditions include being in a state of grace, detachment from sin, sacramental confession, receiving Communion, and praying for the Holy Father’s intentions. A plenary indulgence remits temporal punishment for sins already forgiven; it is not forgiveness of sin and may be applied to souls in purgatory. The Nov. 1–8 indulgence period reflects the historic octave of All Saints’ Day, an eight-day observance established by Pope Sixtus IV and later removed from the liturgical calendar.
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Catholics may seek a plenary indulgence for a departed soul on each of the first eight days of November by visiting a cemetery and praying for the dead, while meeting the Church’s usual conditions for an indulgence. The eight-day period echoes the former octave of All Saints’ Day.
The Vatican’s Handbook of Indulgences allows the faithful to obtain a plenary indulgence for the dead each day from Nov. 1 through Nov. 8. The prescribed act is to devoutly visit a cemetery and pray for the dead, even if the prayer is made only mentally.
A plenary indulgence remits temporal punishment due to sins that have already been forgiven; it is not forgiveness of sin. It may be applied to oneself or to a soul in purgatory.
In addition to completing the cemetery visit and prayer, a person must be in a state of grace, be completely detached from sin—including venial sin—receive sacramental confession and the Eucharist, and pray for the intentions of the pope.
The usual conditions may be fulfilled a few days before or after the cemetery visit. The article says it is appropriate for Communion and prayer for the pope’s intentions to take place on the same day as the visit.
For centuries, All Saints’ Day on Nov. 1 was observed as an eight-day octave. Pope Sixtus IV established the observance in the 15th century; it was later reduced in the liturgical calendar around the middle of the 20th century.
The article notes that the November indulgence provision preserves an indirect connection to the octave. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the period for the indulgence was extended through the whole month of November in both 2020 and 2021 to help avoid large gatherings at churches and cemeteries.
The theology of indulgences, temporal punishment, and communion between the living and the dead
Catholic theology understands indulgences within the communion of saints: Christ’s saving work unites the faithful, so the Church can pray for the healing of sin’s remaining effects in the living and can intercede for the dead. An indulgence does not forgive the guilt of sin or replace conversion and the sacrament of Penance. It concerns the temporal punishment that remains after guilt has been forgiven, and is received through the Church’s ministry, not purchased or mechanically transferred.
Sin damages a person’s relationship with God and also leaves wounds and disorder that need healing. Catholic teaching distinguishes the forgiveness of sin’s guilt from the purification and repair that may still be needed afterward. John Paul II explains that grave sin, when repented of, is forgiven by God along with its “eternal punishment”; yet every sin can leave an unhealthy attachment that must be purified, either during earthly life or in purgatory.
“Temporal punishment” can sound as if God were exacting an arbitrary penalty after having forgiven someone. The Church’s account is more closely bound to sin’s consequences and to the work of restoration: forgiveness reconciles the sinner with God, while purification heals what sin has disordered and repairs, as far as possible, the harm sin has done. The USCCB describes it as “the painful process of restoration and reparation.” John Paul II likewise says that purification removes what impedes full communion with God and with other people.
This distinction matters. An indulgence is not absolution: it does not forgive the guilt of a sin that has not been forgiven. It concerns only the remaining temporal punishment of sins whose guilt has already been remitted. Nor does it make repentance, confession, or the pursuit of holiness unnecessary. John Paul II connects indulgences closely with Penance and stresses that a plenary indulgence presupposes complete detachment from sin.
In the Church’s definition, an indulgence is the remission before God of temporal punishment due to sins already forgiven, obtained by a properly disposed person under prescribed conditions through the Church’s ministry. The Church acts, in Paul VI’s words, “as minister of the Redemption of Christ,” applying the spiritual goods of Christ and the saints to the faithful.
The “treasury of the Church” does not mean a storehouse of spiritual currency. Its inexhaustible source is Christ and the saving value of his redemption; it also includes the prayers and good works of the saints, who bear fruit through their union with Christ. The saints do not add something deficient to Christ’s redemption. Rather, their holiness and charity are themselves gifts of grace, made fruitful for the whole Body of Christ. John Paul II describes this as a spiritual exchange in which the holiness of one benefits others, while the harm caused by sin is not the final word.
This is why indulgences are not a spiritual transaction or an automatic mechanism:
This “distribution” should not be understood as a sort of automatic transfer, as if we were speaking of “things”. It is instead the expression of the Church’s full confidence of being heard by the Father when— in view of Christ’s merits and, by his gift, those of Our Lady and the saints—she asks him to mitigate or cancel the painful aspect of punishment by fostering its medicinal aspect through other channels of grace.
An indulgence is thus a gift within the Church’s prayer and Christ’s grace, received through a person’s properly disposed participation. The Church also attaches indulgences to works of piety, penitence, and charity to encourage practices that build up Christian life and the common good.
The communion of saints means that Christians are united in Christ and share spiritual goods; death does not sever that bond. Paul VI teaches that the faithful on earth, those undergoing purification, and those already with God remain linked by charity. The saints in heaven intercede for the Church on earth, and the Church on earth prays for the departed.
This communion is not an alternative to Christ’s mediation. The saints’ intercession is “through him and with him and in him,” and the spiritual help they give depends ultimately on Christ. Nor does shared spiritual life mean that one person simply takes over another’s responsibility for conversion. Rather, it expresses the Church’s belief that grace and charity can benefit others: no Christian stands wholly alone, and a person’s prayer, sacrifice, and holiness can serve the good of the whole Body.
Because the departed who are being purified remain members of the communion of saints, the living can intercede for them. The Catechism says that obtaining indulgences for the departed is one way of helping them, so that temporal punishment due for their sins may be remitted. The USCCB explains that the living may obtain an indulgence for someone who has died, and that this practice rests on the same communion of saints that makes indulgences possible for the living.
The Church’s language of suffrage means prayerful intercession or offering on behalf of the dead. It does not imply that the living can command God, know the precise state of a deceased person, or calculate the effect of a particular prayer. John Paul II says that the departed receive the fruits of the Church’s intercession “in a way appropriate to their condition.” The theological point is confident hope in God’s mercy, not certainty about the individual outcome of a particular act.
The supplied USCCB text describes a plenary indulgence as requiring a prescribed devotional or pious work, together with sacramental confession, Holy Communion, prayer for the intentions of the Holy Father, and complete detachment from sin, including venial sin. A plenary indulgence concerns all temporal punishment; a partial indulgence concerns only part of it. The cited text underscores that the required acts do not earn the gift by their own power: they express openness to mercy, and grace remains primary.
The practice therefore aims beyond the reduction of punishment. It should deepen repentance, charity, prayer, and concern for others, including the departed. Paul VI warns that abuses have disfigured the practice, but insists that the Church’s teaching on indulgences is to be preserved and rightly understood. Properly understood, indulgences proclaim that sin is serious and leaves real wounds, but also that Christ’s grace is abundant and the Church is a communion in which the faithful can help one another toward fuller union with God.