DECREE On the granting of indulgences during the Ordinary Jubilee of 2025 in the Apostolic Prefecture of Azerbaijan

DECREE

On the granting of indulgences during the Ordinary Jubilee of 2025 in the Apostolic Prefecture of Azerbaijan.

In accordance with the Bull of the Holy Father Francis on the proclamation of the Ordinary Jubilee of 2025 “Spes non confundit” of May 9, 2024, according to which “pilgrimage is a fundamental element of any jubilee event” (n. 5), and that “an indulgence allows us to discover how boundless is the mercy of God … through the grace of Christ, who, as Saint Paul VI wrote, is “our indulgence”” (n. 23);

whereas in the same Bull, in addition to the reference to the Holy Doors and the Jubilee Churches in Rome and in other parts of the world, it is also indicated that it is important to value, at the local level as well, the places of hospitality where hope is generated, especially those dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary (n. 24);

whereas the Rules for the Granting of Indulgences during the Ordinary Jubilee of 2025, published by the Apostolic Penitentiary on 13 May 2024, stipulate that “the faithful, pilgrims of hope, may receive the Jubilee Indulgence granted by the Holy Father if they undertake a pious pilgrimage … to the Cathedral or other churches and sacred places designated by the local Ordinary” (Norms, I);

I hereby decree that throughout the Holy Year, beginning with the opening of the Jubilee Year at the diocesan level on December 29, 2024, the Jubilee Church for sacred pilgrimages and the receipt of Jubilee Indulgences in the Apostolic Prefecture of Azerbaijan will be the

Church of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Baku,

the mother church of all the faithful of our local Church. The faithful receive Jubilee Indulgences if they, individually or in a group, piously visit this Cathedral and spend a reasonable time there in Eucharistic adoration and meditation, ending with the Lord’s Prayer, the Creed in any legal form and invocations to Mary, the Mother of God, having fulfilled the other conditions for receiving an indulgence (Norms, II). Also, according to the Norms, the faithful who for serious reasons will not be able to participate in the jubilee events (in particular the elderly, the sick, prisoners, and those who care for the sick) can obtain a jubilee indulgence, under the usual conditions, if they join with the faithful participating in these events spiritually and through the means of communication, and recite the Our Father, the Creed, and other prayers that correspond to the purposes of the Holy Year, offering up their sufferings or the hardships of their lives (cf. Norms, II).

Furthermore, the faithful can obtain a jubilee indulgence, under the usual conditions, if they spend the appropriate time visiting their brothers and sisters in need or difficulty – the sick, prisoners, lonely elderly people, people with disabilities, as if making a pilgrimage to Christ present in them (cf. Norms, III).

During the Regular Jubilee of 2025, all other types of indulgences remain in force. I urge all priests to make efforts to provide the faithful with the widest possible opportunity to benefit from the means of salvation, and in particular, to establish and publish, if possible, a schedule of confessions, as well as to plan regular and frequent penitential services.

Bishop Vladimir Fekete SDB,

Apostolic Prefect

Fr. Behbud Mustafayev,

Chancellor of the Curia

Baku, December 8, 2024