Urbi et Orbi Blessing (to the City and the World) Amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Pope Francis has announced that he will give an extraordinary blessing “urbi et orbi” (to the city and the world) at 1 p.m. New York City time on Friday, March 27. The formal blessing — usually given only immediately after a new pope’s election and on Christmas and Easter — carries with it a plenary indulgence for all who follow by television, internet or radio, are sorry for their sins, recite a few prescribed prayers and promise to go to confession and to receive the Eucharist as soon as possible. With the public joining him only by television (EWTN), radio. or internet (at www.vaticannews.va, “we will listen to the word of God, raise our prayer (and) adore the Blessed Sacrament,” he said. “At the end, I will give the benediction ‘urbi et orbi,’ to which will be connected the possibility of receiving a plenary indulgence.” An indulgence is an ancient practice of prayer and penance for the remission of the temporal punishment a person is due for sins that have been forgiven. In Catholic teaching, a person can draw on the merits of Jesus and the saints to claim the indulgence for themselves or offer it on behalf of someone who has died. A plenary indulgence is a remission of the entire temporal punishment for sin.