The Catholic claim
After the Resurrection, Jesus did not only announce that God forgives; he gave men authority to forgive and to retain sins. The Catholic claim is that this ministry continues in the sacrament of Confession.
“I can tell God I am sorry” is true and incomplete. God hears contrite prayer. Christ still established a judged, ecclesial mercy so that a sinner would not have to guess whether he was reconciled to God and to the Church.
The priest absolves in persona Christi—as Christ’s ambassador, not as a second Savior. The power is God’s; the sacrament is the channel Christ established. Confession restores baptismal grace lost by mortal sin and heals the wounds of daily failure (CCC 1422). It is the ordinary way Christ gave to meet him with certainty, not a rival to going straight to God.
“Those who approach the sacrament of Penance obtain pardon from God's mercy for the offense committed against him, and are, at the same time, reconciled with the Church which they have wounded by their sins and which by charity, by example,…”
Effects
“Only God forgives sins. Since he is the Son of God, Jesus says of himself, "The Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins" and exercises this divine power: "Your sins are forgiven." Further, by virtue of his divine authority he give…”
Biblical evidence
After the Resurrection, Jesus sends the apostles as the Father sent him, breathes on them, and says, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (John 20:21–23). That is authority to forgive and retain, which implies knowing the sins—oral confession before a judgment of mercy—not a commission merely to announce that God forgives.
Earlier, when Jesus forgives the paralytic, Matthew notes that the crowds glorified God for giving “such authority to men” (Matthew 9:6–8)—plural. Binding and loosing in the Church (Matthew 18:18) belongs to the same pattern: heaven’s judgment tied to a real judgment on earth.
Paul calls this the ministry of reconciliation: God “gave us the ministry of reconciliation,” and the apostles are “ambassadors for Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:18–20). James tells Christians to confess their sins to one another, and he ties forgiveness to the elders’ prayer and anointing (James 5:14–16). Acts 22:16 still joins washing from sin to the Church’s act of baptism. Christ’s finished work reaches sinners through means he appointed.
- John 20:21-23
“Jesus therefore said to them again, “Peace be to you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them,”
- Matthew 9:6-8
“But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...” (then he said to the paralytic), “Get up, and take up your mat,”
- Matthew 18:18
“Most certainly I tell you, whatever things you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven,”
- 2 Corinthians 5:18-20
“But all things are of God, who reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ, and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation; namely,”
- James 5:14-16
“Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the assembly, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord,”
- Acts 22:16
“Now why do you wait? Arise, be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.’”
“Confession to a priest is an essential part of the sacrament of Penance: "All mortal sins of which penitents after a diligent self-examination are conscious must be recounted by them in confession, even if they are most secret and have been…”
Matter
“Since Christ entrusted to his apostles the ministry of reconciliation, bishops who are their successors, and priests, the bishops' collaborators, continue to exercise this ministry.…”
Ministry
The one Mediator is Jesus Christ (1 Timothy 2:5). Catholic confession does not replace him; it extends his mercy through men he authorized—just as healing, exorcism, and baptism do not compete with the Cross but apply it. The priest is an instrument of reconciliation, never a second god.
Tradition and magisterium
From the Didache’s confession “in church” to Hippolytus’s ordination prayer asking that a bishop receive authority to forgive sins, and Chrysostom’s teaching that priests receive a power given neither to angels nor archangels, reconciliation is a ministerial judgment of mercy rooted in John 20.
Fourth Lateran (1215) did not invent Confession; it regulated an already ancient practice—urging confession of mortal sins at least yearly. Trent later defended the sacrament against reducing it to counseling or private apology to God alone. Forms of penance change, but the power to reconcile penitents remains.
“Confess your sins in church, and do not go up to your prayer with an evil conscience. This is the way of life. . . . On the Lord’s Day gather together, break bread, and give thanks, after confessing your transgressions so that your sacrifice may be pure”
“You shall judge righteously. You shall not make a schism, but you shall pacify those that contend by bringing them together. You shall confess your sins. You shall not go to prayer with an evil conscience. This is the way of light”
“For as many as are of God and of Jesus Christ are also with the bishop. And as many as shall, in the exercise of penance, return into the unity of the Church, these, too, shall belong to God, that they may live according to Jesus Christ”
History and development
Public canonical penance for grave sins gradually yielded to private auricular confession widely pastoralized in the West. That development of form is not invention of the grace. The earliest Christian generations already confess sins in the assembly, seek reconciliation with the bishop, and speak of priestly authority to forgive.
Fourth Lateran reminds the faithful of frequency; it does not create a medieval novelty. If the Church of 1215 had been handed a brand-new sacrament, it would have erupted. It did not, because it was disciplining an ancient practice. Form develops, but the power to reconcile sinners is apostolic.
“Confess your sins in church, and do not go up to your prayer with an evil conscience. This is the way of life. . . . On the Lord’s Day gather together, break bread, and give thanks, after confessing your transgressions so that your sacrifice may be pure”
One of the earliest Christian manuals already requires confession before prayer and Eucharist—reconciliation as Church life, not a thirteenth-century invention.
“[Regarding confession, some] flee from this work as being an exposure of themselves, or they put it off from day to day. I presume they are more mindful of modesty than of salvation, like those who contract a disease in the more shameful parts of the body and shun making themselves known to the physicians; and thus they perish along with their own bashfulness”
Tertullian compares avoiding confession to refusing a physician out of shame—proof that penitential confession was already a known “work” of salvation’s medicine in the early third century.
“[The bishop conducting the ordination of the new bishop shall pray:] God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ . . . grant this your servant, whom you have chosen for the episcopate, [the power] to feed your holy flock and to serve without blame as your high priest . . . and by the Spirit of the high-priesthood to have the authority to forgive sins, in accord with your command”
Ordination itself asks God for authority to forgive sins—exactly the John 20 commission handed on through apostolic succession, not a late medieval add-on.
“Priests have received a power which God has given neither to angels nor to archangels. It was said to them: ‘Whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose, shall be loosed.’ . . . ‘Whose sins you shall forgive,’ he says, ‘they are forgiven them; whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.’ What greater power is there than this? The Father has given all judgment to the Son. And now I see the Son placing all this power in the hands of men”
Chrysostom reads binding/loosing and John 20 as a real power of judgment over souls entrusted to priests—men as instruments of the Son’s authority, not self-appointed rivals to God.
Mastery and practice
Walk John 20:21–23 in order: send, breathe, forgive and retain. If retaining is real, sins must be known, and a judgment must be given. That is the shortest answer to “why a priest?” Do not deny that God hears private prayer. Deny that private prayer is the only means Christ left for mortal sin.
Name the acts of the penitent—contrition, confession, satisfaction—and the priest’s absolution. Refute the 1215 invention myth with the earlier witnesses already on this page. On “one mediator,” agree, then show ambassadors. If you collapse those two, you will either deny the Cross or deny the sacrament.
- Walk John 20:21–23 carefully (send / breathe / forgive and retain).
- Answer “why a priest?” and “isn’t faith enough?” without straw men.
- Refute the 1215 invention myth.
- Name the acts of the penitent (contrition, confession, satisfaction) and the priest’s absolution.
- Explain John 20:21–23 (mission, Spirit, forgive/retain).
- Answer “straight to God” and “one mediator” without denying either.
“Those who approach the sacrament of Penance obtain pardon from God's mercy for the offense committed against him, and are, at the same time, reconciled with the Church which they have wounded by their sins and which by charity, by example,…”
Effects
“Only God forgives sins. Since he is the Son of God, Jesus says of himself, "The Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins" and exercises this divine power: "Your sins are forgiven." Further, by virtue of his divine authority he give…”
Authority
Common objections
Only God can forgive sins—and there is one mediator, Christ.
Agreed on both counts: only God forgives, and Christ is the one Mediator (1 Timothy 2:5). The question is how that mediation reaches us. Jesus gave men authority on earth to forgive sins (Matthew 9:6–8) and, after the Resurrection, breathed on the apostles: “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained” (John 20:21–23). Paul calls it the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18–20).
The priest does not replace Christ any more than a biblical healer replaces God; he is an instrument of mercy Christ earned. Refusing the means Jesus set up is not automatically humility.
I can confess straight to God.
God hears contrite prayer—Catholics say so too. Perfect contrition with the intent to confess is not nothing. Still, Christ did not breathe the Spirit on the apostles for a pep talk. He gave them power to forgive and retain sins, which assumes sins are known and judged (John 20:23).
For mortal sin, the ordinary path back to God and the Church is the sacrament he gave. If private apology alone were enough, why hand men authority to retain as well as forgive? That detail only makes sense if Confession is real ministry, not redundant theater.
If I believe in Jesus, I’m already forgiven—Confession adds to the Cross.
“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31) is true—and not the whole story. Jesus ties our forgiveness to forgiving others (Matthew 6:14–15), gives apostles power to retain sins (John 20:23), and joins washing from sin to baptism (Acts 22:16) and anointing (James 5:14–15).
Confession does not add a second Calvary beside the Cross. It is a channel of the Cross’s mercy—Christ’s finished work applied in the Church. Saying the Cross is enough while refusing the means he appointed is like saying the doctor’s medicine is enough while leaving the bottle on the shelf.
Confession was invented in 1215 at the Fourth Lateran Council.
Lateran IV told Catholics to confess mortal sins at least once a year. That is regulation, not invention. Confession in the Church, episcopal authority to forgive, and priestly power drawn from John 20 show up centuries earlier—Didache, Hippolytus, Tertullian, Chrysostom, Augustine.
If 1215 had created a brand-new sacrament, contemporaries would have howled “novelty.” They did not, because they knew they were disciplining an ancient practice. Form develops—public penance, private confession, yearly minimums. The power to reconcile sinners is apostolic, not medieval bureaucracy.
Sources
Citations for this article. Browse the full bibliography to see every place each source is used across the library.
CCC 1441
Only God forgives sins — through the Church
Only God forgives sins. Since he is the Son of God, Jesus says of himself, "The Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins" and exercises this divine power: "Your sins are forgiven." Further, by virtue of his divine authority he give…
CCC 1441. Authority
CCC 1461
Bishops and priests exercise the power to forgive
Since Christ entrusted to his apostles the ministry of reconciliation, bishops who are their successors, and priests, the bishops' collaborators, continue to exercise this ministry.…
CCC 1461. Ministry
CCC 1456
Confession of mortal sins
Confession to a priest is an essential part of the sacrament of Penance: "All mortal sins of which penitents after a diligent self-examination are conscious must be recounted by them in confession, even if they are most secret and have been…
CCC 1456. Matter
CCC 1422
Pardon and reconciliation with the Church
"Those who approach the sacrament of Penance obtain pardon from God's mercy for the offense committed against him, and are, at the same time, reconciled with the Church which they have wounded by their sins and which by charity, by example,…
CCC 1422. Effects
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Apologia Catholic · Aug 17, 2026, 9:11 PM UTCvoice-2Connected teaching voice
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Apologia Catholic · Jul 15, 2026, 5:59 PM UTCImage credits
- Poussin, Seven Sacraments — PenanceNicolas Poussin — public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Rembrandt, Return of the Prodigal SonRembrandt — public domain, Wikimedia Commons