[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
Catechism number 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