Commenting on the newly declared Year of Saint Francis and the plenary indulgences associated with it, the second-ranking official of the Apostolic Penitentiary explained the detachment from all sin that is among the conditions necessary for a plenary indulgence.
“The detachment from sin that is required is not an emotional sense of purity, but an act of the will that says, ‘Lord, I want no sin at all, not even the smallest,’” Bishop Krzysztof Nykiel said in an interview with Vatican News. He explained:
It is not a state of sinlessness. A person may have weaknesses, recurring venial sins, and may even experience painful falls. What matters is the intention and the orientation of the heart: the sincere decision to break with sin here and now.
If someone says to God: “I do not want sin, I hate it, even though I know I am weak,” then there is no attachment to sin in that person.
Bishop Nykiel also discussed the relationship between the 2025 jubilee year and the 2026 Year of Saint Francis, as well as the saint’s importance for our time.