Confession And Absolution

[Ragamuffin]

I'm curious as to how this operates exactly. My admittedly limited understanding of the Catholic view on this is that Jesus gave the disciples the authority to forgive sins and that their successors have this authority as well. The upside of this from the Catholic side is that when a Catholic confesses and repents and the priest absolves him, he has assurance that his sin was forgiven. A Protestant on the other hand doesn't have this more tangible evidence of forgiveness. Of course they know that "if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness" so they have faith that if they repent, their sins are forgiven them, even in private confession directly to the Lord. But some Catholics have argued that a Protestant never knows for sure if his sins were forgiven or not because there's the possibility of nagging doubts: "Was I truly sorry? Was my confession and repentance truly from the heart?" and so on. The Catholic (according to them) doesn't have these doubts because the priest has the authority to absolve them and if he does, their sins are forgiven, period.

So my question is, first, is that an accurate description of how absolution works? Second, if that's the case, what if a person goes to confession and tells the priest they are sorry for their sin and they repent of it and they do the Hail Marys or whatever penitence the priest requires and the priest absolves them...were their sins actually forgiven if they weren't truly sorry and honestly have no intention of not sinning in this way again? In other words, if their heart wasn't truly repentant, are their sins forgiven anyway if the priest absolves them or does God "overrule" in that scenario because the repentance wasn't true?

[cappie]

The first part of your summary is reasonably accurate. John 20:21-23 reads:

”Jesus said to them again ‘Peace be with you. As the Father sends me I send you.’ And he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.’

Over 2000 years, Jesus’ command has been passed and obeyed; our Bishops are the inheritors of their authority. At Ordination, priests get their ability to perform the Sacraments from their Bishop.

As to the second part: [b]Three conditions are required to receive absolution: Contrition, Confession and Satisfaction.[/b] Contrition is true sorrow for our sins because they have offended God who is so good and because Jesus suffered and died for our sins, and also a sincere determination to try not to sin again.

Canon Law says:

Can. 959 In the sacrament of penance the faithful who confess their sins to a lawful minister, [b]are sorry [/b]for those sins and have a purpose of amendment, receive from God, through the absolution given by that minister, forgiveness of sins they have committed after baptism, and at the same time they are reconciled with the Church, which by sinning they wounded.

Hope that makes sense