This year due to the current circumstances provoked by the “COVID-19” pandemic, the plenary indulgences for the deceased faithful will be extended throughout the month of November, adapting the acts and conditions to guarantee the safety of the faithful.
This Apostolic Penitentiary has received many petitions from devoted Pastors who asked that this year, due to the epidemic of “COVID-19”, the pious works be commuted to obtain the plenary indulgences for the souls in Purgatory, according to the norms of the Manual of Indulgences (conc. 29 §1).  For this reason, the Apostolic Penitentiary by the special mandate of His Holiness Pope Francis, willingly establishes and determines that this year to avoid large gatherings where they might be forbidden:           
a.- the plenary indulgence granted to those who visit a cemetery and pray for the deceased, even only mentally, established by the norms only for each day from 1 to 8 November, can be transferred to other days of the same month.  These days chosen individually by the faithful can be separated;
b.- the plenary indulgence of 2 November, granted on the occasion of the Commemoration of all the Faithful Departed for all who piously visit a church or chapel and there recite the Our Father and the Creed, can be transferred not only to the Sunday before or after or to the Solemnity of All Saints, but also to another day of the month of November, freely chosen by each member of the faithful.
The elderly, the infirm and all who for serious reasons cannot leave their homes, for example because of restrictions imposed by the competent authorities for the duration of the pandemic, to avoid the crowding of sacred places by a great number of faithful, can obtain the plenary indulgences, as long as united spiritually with the other faithful, completely detached from sin and having the intention to comply as soon as possible with the usual three conditions (sacramental confession, Holy Communion, and prayers for the intentions of the Holy Father) say prayers before an image of Jesus or of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  Examples might be Morning or Evening Prayers from the Office for the Dead, the Rosary, the Divine Mercy Chaplet, other prayers for the deceased most dear to the faithful, or a meditated reading of one of the passages of the Gospel proposed in the Liturgy for the deceased, or fulfilling a work of mercy offering to God the pains and discomforts of one’s own life.
To assure the ease of obtaining divine grace through pastoral charity, the Apostolic Penitentiary enthusiastically encourages all priests who have the necessary faculties to make the celebration of penance and Holy Communion to the infirm generously available.
However, concerning the spiritual conditions for fully obtaining the indulgence, please refer to the indications already published in the note “Concerning the sacrament of Penance in the current pandemic situation”, by this Apostolic Penitentiary on 19 March 2020.
Finally, so that the souls in Purgatory will be aided by the prayers of the faithful and especially by the Sacrifice of the Altar pleasing to God (cfr. Conc. Tr. Sess. XXV, decr. De Purgatorio), all priests are urgently asked to celebrate Holy Mass three times on the Commemoration of all the deceased [All Souls’ Day], according to the norms of the Apostolic Constitution “Incruentum Altaris”, published by Pope Benedict XV, of happy memory, on 10 August 1915.
The present Decree is valid for the entire month of November, regardless of any contrary disposition.  Given in Rome at the Office of the Apostolic Penitentiary, on 22 October 2020, Memorial of St. John Paul II.

Mario Card. Piacenza, Major Penitentiary