This year, the Vatican decreed that this plenary indulgence can be obtained on any day in November.
The second plenary indulgence is connected to the Feast of All Souls' Day on Nov. 2, and can be received by those who piously visit a church or oratory on that day and recite the Our Father and the Creed.
The Vatican said that this plenary indulgence has also been extended and is available to Catholics throughout the month of November to reduce crowds.
Both indulgences must include the three ordinary conditions and full detachment from sin.
The Vatican also said that, because of the health emergency, the elderly, the sick, and others who cannot leave the house for serious reasons can participate in the indulgence from home by reciting prayers for the deceased before an image of Jesus or the Virgin Mary.
They must also spiritually unite themselves to other Catholics, be completely detached from sin, and have the intention of fulfilling the ordinary conditions as soon as possible.
The Vatican's decree offered examples of prayers that homebound Catholics can pray for the dead, including lauds or vespers of the Office for the Dead, the rosary, the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, other prayers for deceased among their family or friends, or performing a work of mercy by offering their pain and discomfort to God.
The decree also said that "since the souls in Purgatory are helped by the suffrages of the faithful and especially with the sacrifice of the Altar pleasing to God ... all priests are warmly invited to celebrate three times the Holy Mass on the day of the commemoration of all the faithful departed, in accordance with the apostolic constitution 'Incruentum altaris,' issued by Pope Benedict XV, of venerable memory, on August 10, 1915."
Piacenza said that another reason they are asking priests to say three Masses on Nov. 2 was to allow more Catholics to be able to attend.
"Priests are also exhorted to be generous in the Ministry of Confessions and in bringing Holy Communion to the sick," Piacenza said. This will make it easier for Catholics to be able "to offer prayers for their deceased, to feel them close, in short, to encounter all these noble sentiments that go into creating the Communion of Saints."
Hannah Brockhaus is Catholic News Agency's senior Rome correspondent. She grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, and has a degree in English from Truman State University in Missouri.