Catholics confess their sins to a priest because to confess to Christ's representative and hear back in a human voice, "Your sins are forgiven; go in peace," facilitates for us a more powerful experience of the Lord's love and mercy. The Catholic priest's power to forgive sins in Christ's name flows from our Risen Lord's declaration to the Apostles: “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained" (John 20:23). Since Jesus established the rite of Baptism, by which one's past sins are forgiven (cf. Acts 2:38), in fact, it is only reasonable to expect that He would establish a second rite by which post-baptismal sins would be forgiven.
In the sacrament of Confession (also called Penance or Reconciliation), we are only required to confess sins of a deadly nature, those that kill the gift of divine life received in Baptism. The Church's distinction between mortal and venial sins is biblical. "If any one sees his brother committing what is not a mortal sin," writes Saint John, "he will ask, and God will give him life for those whose sin is not mortal. There is sin which is mortal; I do not say that one is to pray for that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin which is not mortal" (1 John 5:16-17).
In denying the authority of the Catholic priest to forgive sins, our separated brethren will often cite the Gospel story of the paralytic, in which the Lord says, "My son, your sins are forgiven;" and the scribes, scandalized by His words, cry, "Why does this man speak thus? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?" (Mark 2:5, 7). To this Jesus replies,
"Why do you question thus in your hearts? Which is easier to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Rise, take up your pallet and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins"—he said to the paralytic—"I say to you, rise, take up your pallet and go home" (2:8-11).
The man promptly does as Jesus commands to the crowd's astonishment. This story is designed primarily, of course, to affirm Christ's divinity: the physical healing proves He has the power to forgive sins; the forgiveness of sins proves He is God, for only God can forgive sins. The story is also designed, however, to show that Jesus brought the ministries of healing and forgiveness to earth—ministries that would be handed on to His followers. In fact, at the conclusion of Saint Matthew's version of the story we are told that the crowd "glorified God, who had given such authority to men" (Matt. 9:8).
Read more about Confession in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
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