Anointing of the SickAnswered

Are indulgences given during the sacrament of the last rites?

A viewer asks whether indulgences are granted during the sacrament of the last rites administered to someone who is ill and about to die.

Answer

Not that I know of, because the person has to do certain things in order to get an indulgence, and if anything the last rites are the replacement for the indulgences. To get an indulgence, the Church gives you a list of things you have to do, and you are responsible by your own free will to obtain it by doing those things. That is really not offered at the last rites. What is offered is that any sins you committed will be forgiven if you had not confessed them in confession when you were a conscious being, because the whole point of the last rites is that you may not be conscious. When you are on your deathbed you may not be conscious, or you may be a little conscious but delirious and not in your right mind, and so the Church will take over for you and administer these rites and forgive your sins. That is what James 5:15 says, the sins shall be forgiven. Usually for venial sins you still have to suffer the punishment in purgatory, but at least you are not going to hell, and that is why the last rites were usually administered for mortal sins, in case you committed a mortal sin and forgot about it or it slipped away. It does not mean you get out of purgatory, it just means you still have a chance to avoid hell.

Dr. Robert Sungenis

Related Questions