EUROPE/ITALY - Plenary Indulgence granted during the Year of St. Paul to pilgrims visiting the Church of San Paolo alla Regola, the Apostle’s first residence in Rome

Rome (Agenzia Fides) – In the context of the Year of Saint Paul, the Holy Father Benedict XVI, with a Decree from the Apostolic Penitentiary issued on September 23, 2008, has granted the Church of San Paolo alla Regola the possibility of being a pilgrimage site for obtaining a plenary indulgence, a grace that can be applied to oneself or a deceased person.
The Church of San Paolo alla Regola is located in the heart of Rome, near the Jewish Quarter, and was constructed on the site where the Apostle first resided in Rome, which is referred to by Saint Luke in the last chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, and where Paul remained two years under military surveillance, teaching, evangelizing, and writing.
In order to obtain the indulgence, certain customary conditions are necessary: confession, Holy Communion, and a prayer for the Holy Father’s intentions, completed with an authentic spirit of repentance and without any attachment to sin, even venial sin. The grace is given to those who visit the Church of San Paolo alla Regola in pilgrimage, fervently participating – in a group or as individual – in a sacred rite or act of piety in honor of Saint Paul. The act will conclude with the prayer of the “Our Father” and the “Creed,” adding invocations in honor of the Virgin Mary and Saint Paul. This devotion, the Decree says, should always be united to the memory of Saint Peter, Prince of the Apostles. (RG/JO) (Agenzia Fides 7/10/2008)