According to the Gospel of John, the Lord, on the very evening of His resurrection, appeared in the midst of His disciples and gave them, as the first fruit of His death and resurrection, the power to forgive sins:
On the evening of that first day of the week...Jesus came and stood in the midst of them and said to them, "Peace be with you"...Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." And when He had said this, 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." (Jn 20. 21-23)
The Council of Trent teaches that these words of Christ refer to the forgiveness of sins in the Sacrament of Penance. Notice the universal character of this grant: whatever sins the Church forgives, God forgives, whatever sins the Church retains, God retains!
In Christ,
Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching
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