The fourth edition reaffirms that indulgences draw on Christ’s infinite merits and the prayers and good works of Mary and the saints to remit temporal punishment due to sins already forgiven. They may be partial or plenary, applied to oneself or to the deceased, and foster conversion, humility, charity, penance, and participation in the unity of the Body of Christ without replacing the Mass, the sacraments, or works of charity.

A plenary indulgence requires the prescribed work, sacramental confession, Eucharistic Communion, prayer for the Pope’s intentions, and complete detachment from sin; contrition suffices for a partial indulgence. Concessions cover prayer amid work or hardship, works of mercy, self-denial, Scripture, Eucharistic adoration, the Rosary, the Stations of the Cross, pilgrimages, cemetery visits from 1–8 November, papal blessings, and numerous liturgical and pastoral occasions. Four general concessions integrate prayer and the perfection of charity into ordinary domestic, professional, and social duties. The revised discipline abandons calculations by days or years, limits plenary concessions, and gives priority to the believer’s conscious interior disposition rather than to objects or places. Norms also regulate granting authority, publication, and oversight.