This is the question that sooner or later almost every Christian asks — and that every non-Catholic addresses to the Church as self-evident: why confess to a priest, since forgiveness comes from God alone? Why tell one’s faults to a man, who is himself a sinner, when one can address the Father directly in the secret of one’s heart? The objection seems so strong that it appears to need no demonstration.
The Catholic Church’s answer does not deny that God alone forgives. On the contrary, it proclaims it strongly: “God alone forgives sins”[1]. But it immediately adds a Gospel fact often forgotten: this God who alone forgives has freely chosen to forgive through men. On Easter evening, the Risen One breathes on His Apostles and expressly entrusts them with the power to forgive and retain sins[2]. To confess to a priest is therefore not to bypass God: it is to receive His forgiveness where He Himself promised to give it.
This article precisely answers the objection — why a priest and not God alone in secret? For the overall scriptural foundation of the sacrament, see the article Is Confession Biblical?; for the practical procedure, see How to Make a Good Confession. Here, the focus is on the mediation of the priest: its legitimacy, its logic, and the liberation it brings.
“I confess directly to God”: the objection in its strongest form
Before answering, the objection must be given its full force — otherwise the response is worthless. Presented honestly, it rests on several real arguments.
Only God can forgive sins
The first argument is scriptural and formidable: it comes from the very lips of Jesus’ opponents. When Christ declares to the paralytic, “Your sins are forgiven”, the scribes inwardly protest: “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming. Who can forgive sins but God alone?”[3]. The logic is unassailable: forgiving an offense against God is a divine act. How could a man dare to claim what belongs only to the Creator?
The only mediator is Christ
The second argument is from Saint Paul himself: “There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus”[4]. If Christ is the sole mediator, why insert a priest between the soul and God? The publican’s prayer — “God, be merciful to me, a sinner”[5] — obtained justification without any intermediary. The Temple veil was torn at Christ’s death: access to the Father is now direct.
Priests are sinners
The third argument is moral and weighty. Why confess one’s most intimate faults to a man who himself commits sins, sometimes graver ones? Contemporary scandals have given this objection new sharpness. Confessing one’s shame to a sinner can seem humiliating, even absurd.
A human and late invention
The fourth argument is historical: the Protestant Reformation held that auricular confession — secret, made to the ear of a priest — was a human invention of medieval councils, foreign to the Gospel and the early Church. Martin Luther kept private absolution but rejected confession as a sacrament necessary by divine law[6]; John Calvin judged this humanly imposed law “tyrannical” and denounced the cruelty of auricular confession for consciences[7]. The passage in James — “Confess your sins to one another”[8] — would rather prove that it is mutual confession among the faithful, not an admission to a priest.
These four arguments together form a serious objection. To answer it requires not evasion, but showing that each one turns around in favor of Catholic practice as soon as the Gospel is read to the end.
"God alone forgives" — and that is why He sent men
The heart of the answer lies in a paradox: the opposing argument is true, and it is the very foundation of Catholic practice. Yes, God alone forgives. The Catechism states this as a principle:
“Only God forgives sins. Because he is the Son of God, Jesus says of himself: ‘The Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,’ and he exercises this divine power.” — Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1441[9]
Christ claims a divine power — then passes it on
Everything hinges on the immediate continuation of the paralytic episode. The scribes are right in principle — who can forgive but God? — but they are mistaken about the person: the one speaking is the Son of God, and he heals the paralytic precisely “so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”[10]. Up to this point, the Protestant objection would hold: this power belongs uniquely to Christ and is not transferable.
It is the parallel version in Saint Matthew that closes the trap. After the same miracle, the crowd does not only glorify God for having forgiven: they glorify God “for giving such authority to men”[11]. In the received reading of this passage, the plural is decisive: the Church sees in it the sign that this divine power, God has given to men — not to make them divine, but to channel His forgiveness through them.
The ministry of reconciliation
Saint Paul names this reality with a technical term: the ministry of reconciliation. Forgiveness is not a purely private matter between the soul and God; God has entrusted it to envoys:
“All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. [...] So we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: be reconciled to God.” — Saint Paul, Second Letter to the Corinthians 5:18-20[12]
The word “ambassador” says it all. An ambassador does not speak on his own behalf; he represents the one who sends him. When the priest absolves, it is not man who forgives by his own power: it is God who forgives through him. The Catechism summarizes:
“Christ willed that his whole Church, in her prayer, life, and action, be the sign and instrument of the forgiveness and reconciliation he won for us by his blood. However, he entrusted the exercise of the power of absolution to the apostolic ministry.” — Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1442[13]
Far from contradicting the unique mediation of Christ, the priest serves it: he does not add a parallel mediation, he makes present and concrete the unique mediation of Christ, just as the water of baptism does not replace Christ but makes him operative. The priest’s mediation is participated, instrumental, subordinate — never competitive.
Easter evening: the day God delegated His forgiveness
If God willed to forgive through men, it remains to show when and how He instituted this. The answer has a date: the very evening of the Resurrection.
“Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.’ And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.’” — Gospel according to Saint John 20:21-23[14]
“As the Father has sent me”
Three details in this text make the Protestant interpretation untenable. First, the sending formula: “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you”[15]. Christ transmits to the Apostles the very mission he received from the Father — of which the forgiveness of sins is the heart. This is not an encouragement to announce a forgiveness already given elsewhere: it is a delegation of power.
Next, the gesture: Jesus “breathed on them.” Throughout Scripture, the breath of God is creative — God breathes into Adam’s nostrils the breath of life[16]. The same Greek verb (enephusêsen) used by Saint John signals a new creation: the Apostles receive the Spirit for a divine, not human, work.
“Forgive” and “retain”: a power that presupposes confession
The third detail is the most overlooked. Christ does not say only “forgive”: he says “forgive OR retain.” But one can only discern whether to forgive or retain a sin on one condition: knowing it. How could an Apostle decide to retain or absolve without knowing what is submitted to him? The power given necessarily implies that sins be submitted to the judgment of the one entrusted with it — in other words, that they be confessed. This is the entire foundation of individual confession: the confession is not an added humiliating requirement, it is the logical condition of a power to “forgive or retain.”
The power of the keys
This gift on Easter evening does not fall from the sky: it fulfills a prior promise. To Peter, Christ said: “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven”[17]. And to all the Apostles: “Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven”[18]. Bind and loose, retain and forgive: it is the same judicial power, exercised in the name of Heaven. The Catechism concludes:
“The words ‘bind and loose’ mean: whoever you exclude from your communion will be excluded from communion with God; whoever you receive again into your communion, God will also welcome into his. Reconciliation with the Church is inseparable from reconciliation with God.” — Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1445[19]
The Testimony of the Early Church
The Protestant objection claims that confession to a priest was a medieval invention. History says the opposite: from the earliest centuries, the Church practiced and claimed this power.
The Fathers Claim a Power Given by God
In the 4th century, Saint John Chrysostom devoted an entire treatise to the priesthood. His formula on the power to forgive sins has remained famous, and the Catechism cites it:
“The priests have received a power that God has given neither to angels nor archangels. [...] God sanctions above all that which priests do here below.” — Saint John Chrysostom, On the Priesthood, III, 5[20]
In Milan, Saint Ambrose defended against the Novatians—rigorists who refused forgiveness of grave sins—the reality of the power received by the Church, and he encouraged humble confession rather than proud concealment:
“Here, there is nothing to be ashamed of, except not making a confession, since we all are sinners.” — Saint Ambrose of Milan, On Penance, Book II[21]
James 5 and Apostolic Practice
The objection invokes James 5 against confession to a priest. The text says the opposite of what is claimed. Saint James does not refer to an anonymous confession among the faithful: he commands the sick “to call the elders (presbyters) of the Church” who pray over him, anoint him with oil, and—he specifies—“if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him”[22]. The confession (“Therefore confess your sins”[23]) is framed by this intervention of the ordained ministers of the Church. The forgiveness of sins is linked to a ministry, not to a simple horizontal confidence. Apostolic practice thus already knows a confession oriented toward those who hold ecclesial office.
Why a Man, and Not God Alone in the Secret of the Heart?
The deepest question remains, even when one has recognized the evangelical institution: why did God want this? He could have forgiven without an intermediary. Why this visible mediation? The answer lies in three converging logics.
The Logic of the Incarnation
God could do everything invisibly. Yet, since the Incarnation, He has chosen to save man by sensible means. The Word became flesh; He healed by touching, by making mud, by allowing Himself to be touched. He instituted sacraments where grace passes through water, bread, oil, words. To refuse the mediation of the priest as a principle is in reality to refuse the sacramental logic of the entire Christian economy. Christianity is not a religion of pure spirit: it is the religion of a God who became man and who continues to act through human signs. The priest is one of these signs.
The Ecclesial Dimension of Sin
No sin is purely private. Sin wounds not only the relationship with God but the entire Body of Christ—the community of the baptized. It is therefore fitting that its repair also passes through the Church, represented by its minister. The Catechism insists: “Reconciliation with the Church is inseparable from reconciliation with God”[24]. To confess to a priest is to recognize that my sin has a communal dimension, and to receive, through the one who represents the Church, reintegration into communion.
The Human Value of the Spoken Word and the Heard Absolution
Finally, there is a reason of a human order, which modern psychology confirms in its own way. To confess aloud, before a witness, what one would willingly keep silent even to oneself, breaks the circle of concealment. And to hear, pronounced by a real voice, the words “I forgive you all your sins”, gives a certainty that the inner forum never provides. One who confesses “directly to God” without an outward sign often remains in doubt: Am I really forgiven? Was I sincere enough? The sacramental absolution answers this need for certainty that God knows, because He created man body and soul. Saint Faustina heard Christ designate the confessional not as a tribunal of condemnation, but as the privileged place of mercy:
“Tell souls where they must seek consolation: it is in the tribunal of mercy. There the greatest miracles take place, which are renewed without ceasing.” — Jesus to Saint Faustina, Diary, § 1448[25]
The Priest: Judge, Physician, Shepherd — and Servant of Forgiveness
Understanding what a priest is in confession dissolves the objection. He is neither a substitute for God nor a mere confidant. The Catechism unfolds four images:
“In celebrating the sacrament of Penance, the priest fulfills the ministry of the Good Shepherd who seeks the lost sheep, that of the Good Samaritan who tends wounds, of the Father who awaits the prodigal son and welcomes him back, of the just Judge who shows no partiality and whose judgment is both just and merciful. In short, the priest is the sign and instrument of God’s merciful love toward the sinner.” — Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1465[26]
A Judge of Mercy
The Council of Trent teaches that Christ left priests as his lieutenants, “presidents and judges, to whom all mortal sins would be referred, so that, by the power of the keys, they might pronounce the sentence that remits or retains sins”[27]. This judicial language can be intimidating; it should not be. The priest does not judge to condemn, but to absolve—and a judgment presupposes, once again, knowing the cause: hence the necessity of confession. The “court” of confession is the only court in the world where the accused who pleads guilty is immediately acquitted.
A Physician of Souls
The priest is also a physician. Just as a sick person does not heal by hiding symptoms from the doctor, the sinner does not heal by hiding: confession is the hospital of souls, and the confessor is the one who applies the remedy suited to each wound.
The Servant, Never the Master of Forgiveness
Above all, the priest is not the owner of the forgiveness he imparts:
“The confessor is not the master but the servant of God’s forgiveness. The minister of this sacrament must unite himself to the intention and charity of Christ.” — Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1466[28]
This sentence answers at once the objection of the “useless” intermediary: the priest does not stand between the soul and God like a tollgate. He is the visible hand through which the invisible God gives what only He can give.
“But Priests Are Sinners”
The moral objection deserves a direct response, as it touches many wounded faithful. Yes, priests are sinners. The sacrament does not depend on that. The efficacy of absolution does not come from the holiness of the priest but from Christ acting through him: the minister acts in persona Christi capitis—“in the person of Christ the Head.” Just as a baptism remains valid even when administered by an unworthy minister, the absolution given by a sinful priest is fully valid, because it is not he who forgives, but God through him[29]. This is even a consolation: the penitent entrusts himself not to the virtue of a man but to the faithfulness of Christ.
The Sacramental Seal: An Absolute Guarantee
What remains is the fear of betrayal. The Church has locked this down with the strictest law in all her canon law: the sacramental seal.
“Every priest who hears confessions is bound, under very severe penalties, to keep absolute secrecy regarding the sins confessed to him by penitents. [...] This secrecy admits no exceptions.” — Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1467[30]
A priest who directly violates this seal incurs excommunication reserved to the Holy See[31]. No civil authority, no threat, no “higher” reason can release him from it: priests have died rather than betray a penitent, such as Saint John Nepomucene, venerated as a martyr of the seal of confession[32]. The penitent can therefore speak with complete safety—more so than to any friend, doctor, or lawyer.
Doctrine Established by the Council of Trent
In response to the Reformers, the Council of Trent (session XIV, November 25, 1551) formulated the doctrine precisely. It teaches that the confession of serious sins to a priest is “necessary by divine law”—that is, willed by Christ himself, not by a mere decision of the Church—and it issues a canon:
“If anyone denies that the sacramental confession was instituted by Christ or that it is necessary for salvation by divine law; or says that the manner of confessing secretly to the priest alone, which the Catholic Church has always observed from the beginning and still observes, is foreign to the institution and command of Christ, and that it is a human invention: let him be anathema.” — Council of Trent, session XIV, canon 6[33]
The following table summarizes, objection by objection, the Catholic response.
| Common Objection | Catholic Response |
|---|---|
| “Only God forgives sins” | True—and God forgives through the priest, to whom He has given this power (Mt 9:8; Jn 20:23; CCC § 1441) |
| “Christ is the only mediator” | The priest does not compete with Christ: he makes His mediation present, like the water of baptism (CCC § 1442) |
| “Priests are sinners” | Absolution comes from Christ acting in persona Christi, not from the holiness of the priest (CCC § 1584) |
| “James 5 speaks of mutual confession” | James refers to the presbyters of the Church, whose prayer obtains forgiveness (Jas 5:14-16) |
| “It’s a medieval invention” | The Fathers (Chrysostom, Ambrose) attest to it as early as the 4th century; it is of divine law (Trent, session XIV) |
The Voice of the Saints and the Experience of Penitents
The best proof remains experience. Saint John Mary Vianney, Curé of Ars (1786–1859), spent up to sixteen hours a day in the confessional and was proclaimed patron of parish priests and confessors; he summed up the entire sacrament in one phrase: “The Good Lord will sooner have forgiven a repentant sinner than a mother will have withdrawn her child from the fire”[34]. Saint Pio of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio, 1887–1968) devoted entire days to penitents who came from all over the world; according to many reported testimonies, he perceived the state of souls and sent back toward a sincere conversion those who presented themselves without true contrition[35], reminding that confession is not an automatic act but a meeting of truth.
They all say the same thing: confessing to a priest is not a humiliation imposed by an institution, but a liberation willed by a God who knows man. Far from distancing one from God, the priest leads one to Him; far from replacing divine mercy, he is its visible door. The question “why a priest?” then finds its simplest answer: because Christ willed it, and because man needs it.
For Further Reading
- Is Confession Biblical? — the complete scriptural dossier on the sacrament.
- How to Make a Good Confession? — the practical step-by-step guide.
- What Is Reconciliation with God? — the deep meaning of the sacrament.
- How to Know if God Forgives Me? — assurance of received forgiveness.
- What Is the Difference Between Mortal and Venial Sin? — the distinction that structures the confession.
- Why Don’t Catholics Follow Sola Scriptura? — the framework of the Protestant objection.
- Why Do Catholics Call Priests ‘Father’? — another objection regarding the priesthood.
Notes and References
Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1441, Vatican Publishing House / Mame-Plon, Paris, 1992. “Only God forgives sins.” Cf. Mk 2:7,10.
1 9Gospel according to Saint John 20:21–23 (Jerusalem Bible, Cerf, Paris). Institution text of the Sacrament of Penance; cited by the Catechism of the Catholic Church, §§ 1461 and 1485.
2 14 15Gospel according to Saint Mark 2:7 (Jerusalem Bible). Objection of the scribes during the healing of the paralytic.
3First Letter to Timothy 2:5 (Jerusalem Bible). Classic argument on the unique mediation of Christ; cf. the Catholic response on participatory mediation, Catechism of the Catholic Church, §§ 618 and 1544.
4Gospel according to Saint Luke 18:13 (Jerusalem Bible). Prayer of the tax collector.
5Martin Luther, Smalcald Articles, Part III, art. VIII “Of Confession” (1537): private absolution, flowing from the power of the keys instituted by Christ in the Gospel, “must by no means be abolished in the Church”; but “the enumeration of sins must be free for everyone” — it is therefore not required by divine law.
6John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book III, ch. 4 (1st Latin ed. 1536; definitive ed.: Latin 1559, French 1560). § 24: the human law imposing confession as necessary for forgiveness is judged “tyrannical” and insulting to God. § 17: the required examination of conscience is described as a cruel torment of souls. §§ 6 and 12: Jas 5:16 refers to mutual confession between brethren, not auricular confession to a priest. The corresponding English terms (“tyrannical”, “most cruelly racked”) are those of Henry Beveridge’s English translation (Edinburgh, 1845, for the Calvin Translation Society; text reproduced on ccel.org). Position rejected by the Council of Trent, Session XIV (November 25, 1551).
7Letter of Saint James 5:16 (Louis Segond): “Confess your sins to one another.” Classic Protestant reading: John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book III, ch. 4, § 6 — James prescribes reciprocal confession between brethren, not confession to a priest (cf. § 12). To be read in context with Jm 5:14–15.
8 23Gospel according to Saint Mark 2:10 (Jerusalem Bible). “The Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” Cited in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1441.
10Gospel according to Saint Matthew 9:8 (Jerusalem Bible): the crowd “glorified God who had given such authority to men.” Decisive argument on the transmissibility of the power to forgive sins.
11Second Letter to the Corinthians 5:18–20 (Jerusalem Bible). The “ministry of reconciliation” and the “ambassadors of Christ”; cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, §§ 1442 and 1424.
12Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1442, op. cit. Christ entrusts the exercise of the power of absolution to the apostolic ministry.
13Book of Genesis 2:7 (Jerusalem Bible). God breathes the breath of life into man’s nostrils; parallel to the creative breath of Jn 20:22.
16Gospel according to Saint Matthew 16:19 (Jerusalem Bible). The power of the keys given to Peter; cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, §§ 553 and 1444.
17Gospel according to Saint Matthew 18:18 (Jerusalem Bible). The power to bind and loose given to the Apostles; cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1444.
18Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1445, op. cit. On the inseparable link between reconciliation with the Church and reconciliation with God.
19 24Saint John Chrysostom, On the Priesthood (De sacerdotio), III, 5 (PG 48, 643A), cited by the Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 983.
20Saint Ambrose of Milan, On Penance (De Paenitentia), Book II, ch. 10, § 91 (against the Novatians, circa 384–394). On the humble confession of sins as a remedy, and on the power received by the Church to remit them. Verified text (English trans. Schaff, NPNF, 2nd series, vol. X): “where there is no cause for shame, except indeed not to confess, since we are all sinners”.
21Letter of Saint James 5:14–15 (Louis Segond). The sick person calls “the elders (presbyters) of the Church”; “if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.”
22Saint Faustina Kowalska, Diary. Divine Mercy in My Soul, § 1448, Apostolate of Divine Mercy / Marians edition. Words of Jesus on the confessional as the “tribunal of mercy.”
25Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1465, op. cit. The priest, sign and instrument of God’s merciful love.
26Council of Trent, session XIV (November 25, 1551), Doctrine on the Sacrament of Penance, ch. 5 (Denzinger-Schönmetzer). Priests left by Christ as “presidents and judges” to remit or retain sins.
27Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1466, op. cit. “The confessor is not the master but the servant of God’s forgiveness.”
28Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1584, op. cit. The sacramental grace is guaranteed by Christ and not by the holiness of the minister (ex opere operato); cf. § 1128.
29Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1467, op. cit. The sacramental seal admits no exception.
30Code of Canon Law (1983), can. 1388, § 1: direct violation of the sacramental seal incurs a latae sententiae excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See. (Canon numbering 1386 in the 2021 revision.)
31Catholic Encyclopedia (1911), art. “St. John Nepomucene” (newadvent.org): according to the ancient account, John of Nepomuk, refusing to betray to Wenceslaus IV the confession of Queen Joanna, was thrown into the Moldau and drowned — on May 16, 1383 according to these accounts; beatified in 1721, canonized in 1729 as a martyr of the seal of confession. The article also notes the debate among modern historians (1393 date, political conflict over the election of the abbot of Kladrau).
32Council of Trent, session XIV (November 25, 1551), canon 6 on the Sacrament of Penance (Denzinger-Schönmetzer). Anathema against those who deny the divine institution of sacramental confession to the priest.
33Saint John Mary Vianney, Curé of Ars (1786–1859), patron of parish priests and confessors (proclaimed by Pius XI in 1929). Remark reported in his Thoughts (Artège ed., Paris, 2015, presented by Bernard Nodet, p. 141), after Monnin, Spirit of the Curé of Ars. On his days in the confessional, up to sixteen hours a day in the later years: biography by Abbé François Trochu, The Curé of Ars, established from the records of the beatification process; cf. Saint John Paul II, Letter to Priests for Holy Thursday, March 16, 1986 (vatican.va), on his ministry in the confessional.
34Holy See, Biography of Padre Pio of Pietrelcina for the canonization (June 16, 2002, vatican.va): for more than fifty years, crowds flocked “to his ministry and his confessional,” and he exercised the “sacramental reconciliation of penitents.” The episodes in which he reveals to a penitent a concealed sin, or invites him to return with sincere contrition, belong to the testimonies gathered for his cause: reported tradition, not an act of the magisterium.
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