Youcat commented through CCC – Question n. 150 - Part I.

YOUCAT Question n. 150 - Part I. Can the Church really forgive sins?

(Youcat answer) Yes. Jesus not only forgave sins himself, he also conferred on the Church the mission and the power to free men from their sins.         

A deepening through CCC

(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).     

Reflecting and meditating 

(Youcat comment) Through the ministry of the priest, the penitent receives God’s forgiveness, and his guilt is wiped away as completely as if it had never existed. A priest can do this only because Jesus allows him to participate in his own divine power to forgive sins.   

(CCC Comment)

(CCC 987) "In the forgiveness of sins, both priests and sacraments are instruments which our Lord Jesus Christ, the only author and liberal giver of salvation, wills to use in order to efface our sins and give us the grace of justification" (Roman Catechism, I, 11, 6). (CCC 986) By Christ's will, the Church possesses the power to forgive the sins of the baptized and exercises it through bishops and priests normally in the sacrament of Penance.       

 (This question: Can the Church really forgive sins? is continued)