Confession
Traditional confessional
A penitent confessing his sins in the former
Latin rite Catholic, now Ukrainian Byzantine
Rite Greek-Catholic church of the
Bernhardines in Lviv, Ukraine.
The confession of one’s sins is a religious
practice important to many faiths, e.g., Ro-
man Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy.
A confessional in Colombia
Christianity
In Christian faith and practice (James 5:16),
confession is similar to a criminal confession
-- an admission of one’s guilt. The practice is
conducted between a confessor and a priest,
often within a confessional box or booth. Con-
fession of one’s sins, or at least of one’s sin-
fulness, is seen by most churches as a pre-re-
quisite for becoming a Christian.
Confession of sins
Catholicism
In Catholic teaching, the sacrament of Pen-
ance (commonly called confession but more
recently referred to as Reconciliation, or
more fully the Sacrament of Reconciliation) is
the method used by the Church by which in-
dividual men and women may confess sins
committed after baptism and have them ab-
solved by a priest. This sacrament is known
by many
names,
including
penance,
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Confession
1
Modern confessional in the Church of the
Holy Name, Dunedin, New Zealand. The pen-
itent may kneel on the kneeler or sit in a
chair facing the priest (not shown)
reconciliation and confession (Catechism of
the Catholic Church, Sections 1423-1442).
While official Church publications always
refer to the sacrament as "Penance", "Recon-
ciliation" or "Penance and Reconciliation",
many laypeople continue to use the term
"confession" in reference to the sacrament.
The intent of this sacrament is to provide
healing for the soul as well as to regain the
grace of God, lost by sin. Catholics believe
that priests have been given the authority by
Jesus to exercise the forgiveness of sins here
on earth and it is in Jesus’ Holy Name by
which the person confessing is forgiven. The
Council of Trent (Session Fourteen, Chapter
I) quoted John 20:22-23 as the primary Scrip-