This may be done on this earth through the sorrows, miseries and trials of this life and, above all, through death . The doctrine of purgatory clearly demonstrates that even when the guilt of sin has been taken away , punishment for it or the consequences of it may remain to be expiated or cleansed. They have carried their crosses to make expiation for their own sins and the sins of others. They were convinced that they could help their brothers to obtain salvation from God who is the Father of mercies. This is the very ancient dogma called the Communion of Saints.
Confession of sins is part of the sacrament of penance.
It issues from true self-knowledge and sorrow for sin. Such interior heart-searching and external accusation ought to be done in the awareness of God's mercy. Confession presupposes in the penitent the willingness to open his heart to God's minister . It presupposes in the minister spiritual judgment , for it is he who, acting for Christ and having the power of the keys, the power to forgive and to retain sins, pronounces judgment . Further, when our Saviour Jesus Christ gave the power to forgive sins to the apostles and their successors, he instituted the sacrament of penance , so that the faithful who had committed sin after baptism could be restored to grace and reconciled to God.