ARTICLE 10 "I BELIEVE IN THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS"

PART ONE: THE PROFESSION OF FAITH

SECTION TWO I. THE CREEDS

CHAPTER THREE I BELIEVE IN THE HOLY SPIRIT

Article 10 "I BELIEVE IN THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS"

976 The Apostle's Creed associates faith in the forgiveness of sins not only with faith in the Holy Spirit, but also with faith in the Church and in the communion of saints. It was when he gave the Holy Spirit to his apostles that the risen Christ conferred on them his own divine power to forgive sins: "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."518

(Part Two of the catechism will deal explicitly with the forgiveness of sins through Baptism, the sacrament of Penance, and the other sacraments, especially the Eucharist. Here it will suffice to suggest some basic facts briefly.)

I. One Baptism for the Forgiveness of Sins

977 Our Lord tied the forgiveness of sins to faith and Baptism: "Go
into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He who
believes and is baptized will be saved."519

Baptism is the first and
chief sacrament of forgiveness of sins because it unites us with Christ,
who died for our sins and rose for our justification, so that "we too
might walk in newness of life."520

978 "When we made our first profession of faith while receiving the
holy Baptism that cleansed us, the forgiveness we received then was so
full and complete that there remained in us absolutely nothing left to
efface, neither original sin nor offenses committed by our own will, nor
was there left any penalty to suffer in order to expiate them.... Yet the
grace of Baptism delivers no one from all the weakness of nature. On
the contrary, we must still combat the movements of concupiscence
that never cease leading us into evil "521

979 In this battle against our inclination towards evil, who could be
brave and watchful enough to escape every wound of sin? "If the
Church has the power to forgive sins, then Baptism cannot be her only
means of using the keys of the Kingdom of heaven received from Jesus
Christ. the Church must be able to forgive all penitents their offenses,
even if they should sin until the last moment of their lives."522

980 It is through the sacrament of Penance that the baptized can be
reconciled with God and with the Church:

Penance has rightly been called by the holy Fathers "a laborious kind
of baptism." This sacrament of Penance is necessary for salvation for
those who have fallen after Baptism, just as Baptism is necessary for
salvation for those who have not yet been reborn.523

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).

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