[15] I have not used any of these rights, however, nor do I write this that it be done so in my case. I would rather die. Certainly no one is going to nullify my boast. [16] If I preach the gospel, this is no reason for me to boast, for an obligation has been imposed on me, and woe to me if I do not preach it! [17] If I do so willingly, I have a recompense, but if unwillingly, then I have been entrusted with a stewardship. [18] What then is my recompense? That, when I preach, I offer the gospel free of charge so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.
(CCC 981) After his Resurrection, Christ sent his apostles "so that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations" (Lk 24:47). The apostles and their successors carry out this "ministry of reconciliation," not only by announcing to men God's forgiveness merited for us by Christ, and calling them to conversion and faith; but also by communicating to them the forgiveness of sins in Baptism, and reconciling them with God and with the Church through the power of the keys, received from Christ (2 Cor 5:18): [The Church] has received the keys of the Kingdom of heaven so that, in her, sins may be forgiven through Christ's blood and the Holy Spirit's action. In this Church, the soul dead through sin comes back to life in order to live with Christ, whose grace has saved us (St. Augustine, Sermo 214, 11: PL 38, 1071-1072). (CCC 2527) "The Good News of Christ continually renews the life and culture of fallen man; it combats and removes the error and evil which flow from the ever-present attraction of sin. It never ceases to purify and elevate the morality of peoples. It takes the spiritual qualities and endowments of every age and nation, and with supernatural riches it causes them to blossom, as it were, from within; it fortifies, completes, and restores them in Christ" (GS 58 § 4).
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