Apostolic Pardon

Apostolic Pardon

I was about to sleep last night (2 May 2021) when I received a message from a friend, who is a lay UST administrator, requesting if I could bless online the dying father of a UST student. It was really heartbreaking. I prayed the 'apostolic pardon', relying in faith that God will never abandon His servant at the moment of death. The family was united in prayer, and that would probably be a long night for them.

In this time of the pandemic, there are many who might be dying at this very moment . Kindly include them in your personal prayers although we do not know them at all.

"The Christian meaning of death is revealed in the light of the Paschal Mystery of the Death and Resurrection of Christ in whom resides our only hope. The Christian who dies in Christ Jesus is 'away from the body and at home with the Lord' (2 Cor 5:8)."

- Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1681

As a person draws closer to the doors of death, there is one blessing in particular that the Church reserves for this most sacred moment: the Apostolic Pardon. It is a pardon that can be given by any priest and has the special power of removing all temporal punishment due to sin.