mmission draws the distinction between remitting sin and retaining
sin. This exercise of discretionary power does not depend on the
arbitrary will of the Apostles, but has to be decided according to the
Gospel law of true repentance described previously. The Apostles are
appointed ministerial judges of the dispositions of penitents, and of
the sins on which they are to pronounce sentence of remission or of
retention, and their sentence is as efficacious as if it were
pronounced by Christ himself.

Now, it is a primary condition of just judgment that the judge should
not only be cognizant of the law which is to be administered, but also
of the cause submitted for judgment. Applying this to the exercise of
the judicial power with which the Apostles are invested, two things
are needed: the first, that they should know the law and the
conditions on which sin is to be retained or remitted. This they can
only learn of God. The second, that they should know the sin
committed, its nature and its circumstances. This can only be learned
from the sinner; for sin is a deliberate and voluntary transgression
of God's law. And, therefore, as St. Thomas of Aquinas has it, "the
principle of sin is the will." It is in the recesses of the knowledge
and liberty which the soul has, that the guilt of sin is to be sought.
Who then but the individual offender can know the sins for which
forgiveness is asked? The disclosure can only come from the
wrong-doer. Clearly then, confession, in the ordinary course of
things, is the necessary and preliminary condition for seeking
absolution from sin. Whether this confession be made in public or in
private is a mere matter of convenience, to be decided by those who
absolve. The honest humble accusation of all deadly sins constitutes
the essential character of such confession or avowal of
transgressions. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to
forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity."[32]

That interior and supernatural contrition is to be followed by the
judicial sentence of a duly-appointed priest, to whom confession of
all deadly sins has been previously made, is the unanimous teaching of
the Christian writers from the earliest date. The existence of Penance
as the Sacrament of Reconciliation, at all times in the Church, is
permanent evidence to the belief and practice of early Christians.

1. In the History of the Church given in the Acts of the Apostles, we
learn that