Here’s how Catholics can get 8 plenary indulgences during the first week of November
Catholics can obtain a plenary indulgence for the faithful departed on each day from Nov. 1 through Nov. 8, according to the Vatican’s Handbook of Indulgences. To receive a plenary indulgence, the faithful must be in a state of grace, be detached from sin, go to confession, receive the Eucharist, and pray for the Holy Father’s intentions. A plenary indulgence remits temporal punishment for sins already forgiven; it may be applied to oneself or to souls in purgatory. The eight-day period reflects the former octave of All Saints’ Day, an observance established by Pope Sixtus IV and later removed from the liturgical calendar.
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Catholics may obtain a plenary indulgence for the faithful departed on each day from Nov. 1 through Nov. 8 by visiting a cemetery and praying for the dead. The article links this eight-day opportunity to the historic octave of All Saints’ Day and outlines the additional requirements for receiving an indulgence. 1
For each day’s indulgence, a person must devoutly visit a cemetery and pray for the dead, at least mentally. The usual conditions also apply: being in a state of grace, having complete detachment from sin, going to sacramental confession, receiving Communion, and praying for the pope’s intentions. 1
Confession and the other general conditions may be completed a few days before or after the cemetery visit, though the article says it is appropriate to receive Communion and pray for the pope’s intentions on the same day as the visit. An indulgence remits temporal punishment for sins already forgiven; it does not forgive sin itself, and it may be applied to oneself or to souls in purgatory. 1
The article says All Saints’ Day was widely observed as an eight-day octave for centuries, after Pope Sixtus IV established the observance in the 15th century. Although the octave was later removed from the liturgical calendar, the Nov. 1–8 indulgence practice remains, as set out in the Vatican’s Enchiridion of Indulgences. 1
The indulgence period was extended through all of November in 2020 and 2021 amid concerns about crowds gathering in churches and cemeteries during the COVID-19 pandemic. 1*
The theology of indulgences, sin, and purgatory in Catholic tradition
Catholic teaching holds together three truths: sin is forgiven by God through Christ, sin also wounds and disorders the sinner and damages the good of others, and God continues to heal what sin has left behind. Purgatory is the final purification of those who die reconciled to God; an indulgence is a Church-mediated remission of some or all of the temporal punishment due to sins already forgiven. Neither purgatory nor indulgences replace Christ’s saving work: they are understood within the grace and communion flowing from it.
Sin is not only a broken rule or an offence for which guilt must be pardoned. It also distorts a person’s desires, habits, and relationships. Catholic theology therefore distinguishes forgiveness of guilt from the healing and restoration that follow. A person reconciled with God may still need to be freed from the disordered attachments and harmful effects that sin has produced.
Catholic teaching also distinguishes sin’s eternal consequence from its temporal consequence. Grave sin, if unrepented, separates a person from communion with God and eternal life; when God forgives the repentant sinner, that separation and its eternal punishment are remitted. Yet sin can still leave damage that requires purification and repair. The term temporal punishment refers to this remaining need for healing and restoration—not to a second, unforgiven guilt or a rival to God’s mercy.
Pope Paul VI connects this repair to the ways sin harms not only the sinner but also personal, social, and wider moral goods. Those harms must be healed, whether through reparation in this life or through purification after death. Thus penitential acts are not a payment that buys God’s forgiveness; they express conversion and help restore what sin has disordered.
Purgatory is the purification of those who die in God’s charity and repentance but are not yet fully purified. It is not a second opportunity to choose God after death: the account in the supplied teaching concerns people who already die in God’s love and need further cleansing. Nor is it eternal punishment. Its purpose is purification—removing what still impedes full communion with God.
The doctrine follows from the conviction that salvation involves complete healing, not merely a declaration that guilt is gone while the wounds of sin remain untouched. The Church’s teaching therefore holds together God’s pardon and the continuing transformation of the person. Purgatory names the completion of that purification for those who die in God’s friendship but still need it.
The Catechism defines an indulgence as “a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven.” The faithful Christian, properly disposed and meeting the prescribed conditions, receives it through the Church’s ministry, as the Church applies the spiritual treasury of Christ and the saints. An indulgence is partial if it remits part of the temporal punishment and plenary if it remits all of it; it may be applied to oneself or offered for the dead.
This definition draws a clear boundary around what an indulgence does. It does not forgive guilt for a sin that has not been forgiven, excuse future sin, or remove the need for conversion. It concerns the temporal consequences of forgiven sin. Paul VI likewise describes indulgences as distinct from other means of overcoming sin’s effects and says that the Church grants them to encourage works of piety, penance, and charity.
The supplied sources establish that indulgences are gained under prescribed conditions, but they do not set out the current detailed checklist. So it would not be responsible to infer the precise requirements for a particular indulgence from these excerpts alone. What they do make clear is that indulgences are not automatic: the faithful must be suitably disposed, and the gift belongs within the Church’s call to conversion and Christian life.
The Church’s “treasury” can be misunderstood as if it were a storehouse of spiritual currency that the Church transfers mechanically. John Paul II explicitly rejects that picture: the treasury is grounded in Christ’s merits and, by his gift, the holiness and good works of Mary and the saints. The Church’s application of this treasury is an exercise of her ministry of redemption and her confidence in God’s mercy—not a commercial transaction.
The underlying idea is the communion of saints: Christians belong to one body in Christ, so the holiness and prayers of one can benefit others. Christ remains the source and centre of this communion; the saints do not provide an independent alternative to his redemption. John Paul II describes their good works as participating in Christ’s saving work, while insisting that “Everything comes from Christ.”
This is why an indulgence can be offered for someone who has died. The Church asks God to apply its fruits to the faithful departed, rather than claiming to control their purification or to purchase their release. John Paul II says the departed receive the fruits “in a way appropriate to their condition.”
Indulgences make sense only as part of a life turning toward God. They do not make repentance unnecessary or make moral reform optional. The Church presents them alongside prayer, penance, charity, and works that strengthen faith and serve the common good. In that sense, the practice is meant to deepen communion with Christ and with others, not to let someone evade the consequences of wrongdoing or the work of becoming holy.
The history of indulgences includes misuse. Paul VI acknowledges abuses, including practices that weakened penitential discipline and the collection of illicit profits, while reaffirming the doctrine and rejecting the idea that indulgences are useless. The proper Catholic account therefore distinguishes the teaching from distorted practices: an indulgence is not a sale of forgiveness, but a spiritual gift within the Church’s ministry, ordered to conversion and the healing of sin’s effects.