A sacrament of the New Law, instituted by Christ, for the remission of sins committed after Baptism. Implied in the right of "binding and loosing" promised by Christ to the rulers of His Church (Matthew 16:18), the power to forgive sins was unequivocally granted to the Apostles, and consequently to their successors, since the Church is permanent and unchangeable; it was thus granted by the words of Christ to the Apostolic college on the day of His Resurrection: "Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained." (John 20). The fact that Our Lord empowered His earthly representatives with authority not only to forgive but also to retain sins proves, in the first place, that He willed the exercise of this power to be a judicial process, in which the minister is to judge who are worthy, and who are unworthy, of forgiveness. Secondly, it shows that the forgiveness of sins by the use of this power is effected throug...
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