Enchiridion · Grant 12 §1, §4
Apostolic blessing at the point of death
Receive the apostolic blessing with its plenary indulgence when a priest ministers to you as death approaches.
Time required Duration of the priest’s apostolic blessing at the point of death
- When
- At the point of death
- Where
- Where the dying person receives the priest’s ministry
- Who
- A duly disposed member of the faithful at the approach of death
- Application
- Self or the departed
The prescribed work
- The priest imparts the apostolic blessing with the attached indulgence.
- The dying person must be duly disposed.
- This can be gained even after another plenary indulgence on the same day.
The work and its conditions
A plenary indulgence also requires complete detachment from every sin, sacramental confession, Holy Communion, and prayer for the Pope’s intentions, subject to the grant’s stated exceptions. The ordinary limit is one plenary indulgence per day.
Conditions common to every indulgence
The person gaining an indulgence must be baptized, not excommunicated, and in the state of grace at least when the prescribed works are completed. There must be at least a general intention to gain indulgences, and the prescribed work must be performed at the time and in the manner required by the grant.
Read the full conditions and norms. The cited grant and its specific provisions govern.
Time required
Read each branch with its own conditions. An editorial estimate is not a prescribed minimum.
Prescribed work
Complete the prescribed event
Duration of the priest’s apostolic blessing at the point of death
No fixed number of minutes is prescribed. The occasion and disposition govern this grant; no separate timed devotional exercise is prescribed.
What the time estimate excludes
- Ordinary travel to and from the venue, and waiting outside the prescribed work
- Preparation and separately fulfilled sacramental conditions, except where the prescribed work itself includes Communion or a liturgical celebration
Occasion and source notes
The apostolic pardon belongs to ministry to the dying. Current USCCB ritual guidance places it in rites for proximate or imminent danger of death, distinguishing this situation from ordinary anointing when a serious illness has only begun to endanger life.
Source and exact reference
- Enchiridion indulgentiarum, fourth edition (1999)12 §1, §4
- Manual of Indulgences, approved USCCB English edition (2006), hosted copy12 §1, §4
- USCCB Committee on Divine Worship, November–December 2025 NewsletterPrinted page 47: ordinary anointing, Viaticum and the apostolic pardon
Prayer texts and grants have separate source histories. Consult the grant source for the prescribed work, occasion, and conditions.