Expert: Rick Jackson - 8/29/2006

Question
Thanks for your reply.  I'm also curious about why Catholics must go through a Priest to confess their sins and ask for resolution, rather than just praying to God directly and asking for His forgiveness?  I've never really quite understood that.
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Followup To

Question -
How do Catholics view the Pope in relationship to God?  I'm not sure I worded that question properly, so you may have to read between the lines.

Answer -
Simply, the leader of Christ's Church here on earth.

We view Peter as the designated leader of the early church - and view all his successors as leader too.

For a bit more detail, see my forum response here:
http://catholictruths.com/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=c6d13c85adbac509ae9daedc98c8

Answer
That is a much deeper subject, but it is not actually correct that "Catholics must go through a Priest to confess their sins".

We learn from the NT that in the early Church the Christians were encouraged to confess their sins one to another.  Partly for peoples privacy, but also partly so that an authority of the church could confirm forgiveness, the chrisians began confessing to the bishops/priests/presbyters.

Now that having been said, it is only for serious sins that Catholics are taught to confess to a priest.

Of course volumes and volumes have been written on this subject alone, so my couple paragraphs cannot treat it correctly.

Finally, here is an online search tool for the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which is the "official" teachings of the Church:
http://www.kofc.org/publications/cis/catechism/index.cfm

Hope that helps.

Peace and Blessings to you, Bob.

Rick.