Answered by Joe:
Correct. I just want to expand on this point, as it addresses a very common misunderstanding about the sacrament. I had this misunderstanding for many years.
The priest does not absolve the sins you have confessed. He absolves YOU. Every sin, including those you may have forgotten, or not confessed well, or which he misunderstood, etc.
" I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." (Emphasis added.)
We see so many questions here relating to “Is my confession valid?”, and I suspect that this misunderstanding underlies many of them.
(This assumes, of course, that the penitent has made a sincere confession, not deliberately witholding any mortal sins).
