the souls of the faithful, now observed, of confessing at that most sacred and that most acceptable time of Lent a custom which this holy Synod most highly approves of and embraces, as pious and worthy of being retained. [Chap. 5.] THE MINISTRY OF CONFESSION The holy Synod declares all those doctrines -to be false, and utterly alien from the truth of the Gospel, which perniciously extend the ministry of the keys to 50 ROMAN CATHOLICISM any others soever besides bishops and priests, imagin- ing, contrary to the institution of this sacrament, that those words of our Lord : Whatsoever you shall bind upon earth, shall be bound also in heaven, and what- soever you shall loose upon earth shall be loosed also in heaven; and: Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them, and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained were in such wise addressed to all the faithful of Christ indifferently and indis- criminately, as that every one has the power of for- giving sins public sins, namely, by rebuke, provided he that is rebuked shall acquiesce, and secret sins by a voluntary confession made to any individual whatsoever. It also teaches that even priests, who are in mortal sin, exercise, through the virtue of the Holy Ghost which was bestowed in ordination, the office of forgiving sins