The Effect of Confession

Confession is a part of the sacrament of penance, and therefore shares the effect of the sacrament itself;it delivers the penitent from sin when it is made with perfectcontrition and with the qualities mentioned above, that is, when itis humble, sincere, and entire. If confession is made with imperfect, but supernatural, contrition, it does not deliver thepenitent from sin, but disposes him proximately for the absolutionwhich removes his sins.

Confession with absolution takes away the guilt of mortal sins and the eternal punishment that is due to them; it alsolessens, in greater or smaller degree, the temporal punishment owed to forgiven mortal sins and to venial sins.

The power of forgiving sins, imparted by Christ to his priests, is called “the power of the keys.” For the sacrament of penance, rightly received, opens the gate of heaven tothe forgiven sinner. Hence we rightly speak of penance as the key or keys to heaven, and of the power of conferring this sacrament asthe power of the keys.

We hope for forgiveness through Christ. By confessing,we submit ourselves to the power of the keys which has its efficacy from the Passion of Christ. Hence, an effect of confession is the renewed hope of heaven.

A man must confess all mortal sins that he remembers committing. If there be other mortal sins not remembered, they should be included in a general way in the confession, by use ofsome such phrase as, “For these sins that I have confessed,and for any others that I may have committed, I am sorry, and seekabsolution from them all.”