II. The Power of the Keys
981
After his Resurrection, Christ sent his apostles "so that repentance and
forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all
nations."524 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:525
[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.526
982
There is no offense, however serious, that the Church cannot forgive.
"There is no one, however wicked and guilty, who may not confidently hope
for forgiveness, provided his repentance is honest.527 Christ who died
for all men desires that in his Church the gates of forgiveness should always
be open to anyone who turns away from sin.528
983
Catechesis strives to awaken and nourish in the faithful faith in the
incomparable greatness of the risen Christ's gift to his Church: the mission
and the power to forgive sins through the ministry of the apostles and their
successors:
The Lord wills that his
disciples possess a tremendous power: that his lowly servants accomplish in his
name all that he did when he was on earth.529
Priests have received from God a power that he has given neither to angels nor
to archangels .... God above confirms what priests do here below.530
Were there no forgiveness of sins in the Church, there would be no hope of life
to come or eternal liberation. Let us thank God who has given his Church such a
gift.531
984
The Creed links "the forgiveness of sins" with its profession of
faith in the Holy Spirit, for the risen Christ entrusted to the apostles the
power to forgive sins when he gave them the Holy Spirit.
985
Baptism is the first and chief sacrament of the forgiveness of sins: it unites
us to Christ, who died and rose, and gives us the Holy Spirit.
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.
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).
|