Members of the media who will join the May 4 pilgrimage at the San Sebastian Cathedral will receive plenary indulgence, a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, Fr. Felix Pasquin yesterday said in a press conference.

The media practitioners will receive indulgence decreed by the Apostolic Penitentiary in Rome early this year to all faithful in Bacolod Diocese who will piously join in the Jubilee celebration.

The decree, signed by James Francis Cardinal Stafford and Bishop Gianfranco Girotte of the Apostolic Penitentiary, grants that indulgences rightfully met under the customary condition of sacramental confession, Eucharistic communion, and prayer for intentions of the Pope, can be attained by the repentant Christian who joins pilgrimages to the San Sebastian Cathedral, participate in the liturgical celebration and other pious exercises.

Inviting the members of the local press to join in the Jubilee activities of the Diocese, Pasquin said the media pilgrimage coincides with the celebration of the church of the World Communication Day.

Those who will join the pilgrimage will gather at the Diocesan Center, annex to the Bishop’s House, at 8:30 a.m. for an orientation before joining Bishop Vicente Navarra in the 10 a.m. mass, he said.

Seminarians in the four dioceses in Negros Island, who will also celebrate the Seminarians’ Festival, will join the media practitioners in the pilgrimage, Pasquin said.

Similar to the practice of other sectors joining the organized pilgrimage relative to the Diamond Jubilee year of the Bacolod Diocese, he said members of the press will pass through the Cathedral door that was declared Jubilee door in symbolic rites in January.

Pasquin said the media practitioners will join the bishop in the processional and will occupy reserved seats inside the Cathedral during the mass. They will also visit the tombs of bishops Casimiro Lladoc, Manuel Yap, Bishop Antonio Fortich whose remains were interred at the sanctuary of the Cathedral.*NAB

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