This year, according to the Vatican, fortunate Roman Catholics can receive a plenary indulgence if they pray in front of a Nativity scene in a Franciscan church anytime between December 8, 2023 and February 2, 2024.
In Romanist theology, nearly every Christian who passes away goes to purgatory. Here, even though their sins are forgiven, believers still need to be punished for their sins and cleansed from their attachment to sin before they can go to heaven. This may take five years, or it may take ten thousand years.
Lucky for them, access to indulgences is one way to fast-track the process, reducing the time spent in purgatory either for yourself or a loved one. Roman Catholics believe that there exists a treasury of merit, a “super-abundant store of righteousness and good works belonging to Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the saints” that the pope alone can “pull from” whenever he wants to transfer the earned merit of some people to others.
A plenary indulgence removes all temporal punishment due to sin and helps purgatory-bound souls get to heaven much faster.
These specific circumstances of merit-giving came after the Conference of the Franciscan Family asked Francis to grant folks a plenary indulgence to celebrate the 800th anniversary of St Francis of Assisi creating the world’s first nativity scene in AD 1223, writing:
“To promote the spiritual renewal of the faithful and increase the life of grace, we ask that the faithful receive a plenary indulgence under the usual conditions from 8 December 2023, the solemnity of Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, to 2 February 2024, feast of the Presentation in the Temple of Our Lord Jesus Christ, by visiting the churches run by Franciscan families throughout the world and stopping in prayer in front of the Nativity scenes set up there.”
The request was granted.
Notably, however, this indulgence does not apply to nativity scenes in front of churches run by Jesuits, Benedictines, or Dominicans, but only Franciscans.
What a way to live.
