Benedict XVI is offering those who visit the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls a chance to get a plenary indulgence during the Pauline Jubilee Year.

The indulgence was announced in a decree made public Saturday and signed by Cardinal James Stafford and Bishop Gianfranco Girotti, respectively penitentiary major and regent of the Apostolic Penitentiary.

The faithful can receive the indulgence during the Pauline year, marking the 2,000th anniversary of the Apostle's birth. The Pauline year runs from June 28, 2008, to June 29, 2009.

With the customary conditions, the faithful can obtain the indulgence by undertaking "a pious visit in the form of a pilgrimage to the papal basilica of St. Paul on Rome's Via Ostiense and [praying] in accordance with the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff," the decree explained.

It added: "In order that the prayers pronounced on these holy visits may lead and draw the souls of the faithful to a more intense veneration of the memory of St. Paul, the following conditions are laid down: The faithful, apart from pronouncing their own prayers before the altar of the Blessed Sacrament, [...] must go to the altar of the Confession and pray the 'Our Father' and the 'Creed,' adding pious invocations in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Paul; and such acts of devotion must remain closely linked to the memory of the prince of the apostles, St. Peter."'

Those who are not in Rome can obtain the indulgence "if they participate devotedly in a religious function or in a pious exercise held publicly in honor of the Apostle of the Gentiles: on the days of the solemn opening and closing of the Pauline Year in any place of worship; on other days determined by the local ordinary, in holy places named for St. Paul and, for the good of the faithful, in other places designated by the ordinary."

The decree also noted that the sick or those who legitimately cannot leave their homes, can obtain the indulgence if they "spiritually unite themselves to a jubilee celebration in honour of St. Paul, offering their prayers and suffering to God for the unity of Christians."

News by ZENIT

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