CBCP: Vatican approves indulgences for Manaoag visitors

Devotees who visit the Shrine of Our Lady of Manaoag in Pangasinan province will now be entitled to plenary indulgence, a full pardon of temporal punishment because of sins. Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas over the weekend said the Cardinal Archpriest of the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome authorized the special indulgence. “The Manaoag pilgrims are assured by the Sacred Penitentiary of a plenary indulgence under the usual conditions of the Church when they visit the Shrine Our Lady of Manaoag," Villegas said in a circular dated June 13. Thousands of pilgrims visit Manaoag Shrine everyday because of the many miracles attributed to Our Lady of the Holy Rosary. Villegas said Cardinal Bernard Francis Law has granted the Manaoag Shrine “a special bond of spiritual affinity through which the pilgrims who visit [there] are assured of the blessings of the Lord as if they actually visit the said major basilica in Rome." Pilgrims receive the indulgence by going to confession near the time of their pilgrimage, receiving the Eucharist, and praying for the intentions of the Pope, each done in a spirit of detachment from the attraction of sin. Villegas will celebrate a Mass at the Manaoag Shrine on July 22 to commemorate the “honor" granted to a sanctuary within his archdiocese. “During [the mass] the appropriate documents from the Holy See will be formally announced to the Catholic faithful," he said. — JE, GMA News