The following comes from an October 7 Orange County Catholic article by Kimberly Porazzo:

If you follow the protocol of this Jubilee Year of Mercy Plenary Indulgence, you have the rare opportunity to purify your soul. You may obtain “complete remission of all temporal punishment due to sin.” It is a chance to be purified even beyond reconciliation.

I visited Monsignor Doug Cook, rector at Holy Family Cathedral in Orange, to better understand. According to Msgr. Cook, the plenary indulgence “takes care of all past sins of a person’s life.” It goes beyond the graces received during reconciliation.

One of the requirements for this special indulgence is that you pass through a Holy Door. Previously, that required a trip to Rome. This Jubilee year, however, because Pope Francis wanted as many as possible to receive the indulgence, the entrance to each cathedral throughout the world and certain shrines are deemed and blessed as Holy Doors. In the Diocese of Orange, the two Holy Doors designated are located at Holy Family Cathedral in Orange and Mission Basilica in San Juan Capistrano.

The requirements to receive the indulgence are listed here:
• Walk through one of the Holy Doors designated in the area
• Recite the Creed
• Go to confession and receive Holy Communion (within 20 days of each)
• Say the Our Father and the Hail Mary, offering them for the intentions of the Holy Father
• Finally, make a commitment to strive to live a life without sin– what theologians call a “detachment from sin.”

Not only can you purify your own soul, you may do so for a departed loved one.