John Paul II: Apostolic Letter on Certain Aspects of the Celebration of the Sacrament ofPenance 7.4.2002... Christ entrusts to the apostles the mission of proclaiming the kingdom of God and preaching the gospel ofconversion. On the evening of the day of his resurrection, as the apostolic mission is about to begin, Jesusgrants the apostles, through the power of the H. Spirit, the authority to reconcile repentant sinners with God andthe Church: "Receive the H. Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any,they are retained".Down through history in the constant practice of the Church, the "ministry of reconciliation", conferred throughthe Sacraments of baptism and penance, has always been seen as an essential and highly esteemed pastoral dutyof the priestly ministry, performed in obedience to the command of Jesus. Through the centuries, thecelebration of the Sacrament of penance has developed in different forms, but it has always kept the same basicstructure: it necessarily entails not only the action of the minister - only a Bishop or priest, who judges andabsolves, tends and heals in the name of Christ - but also the actions of the penitent: contrition, confession andsatisfaction...In order that the minister of the sacrament may know the dispositions of penitents with a view to granting orwithholding absolution and imposing a suitable penance, it is necessary that the faithful, as well as being awareof the sins they have committed, of being sorry for them and resolved not to fall into them again, should alsoconfess their sins. In this sense, the council of Trent declared that it is necessary "by divine decree to confesseach and every mortal sin". The Church has always seen an essential link between the judgement entrusted tothe priest in the Sacrament and the need for penitents to name their own sins, except where this is not possible.Since, therefore, the integral confession of serious sins is by divine decree a constitutiv...