[Petrosius]

Scripture never teaches that one is justfied by absolution from a priest.

Read the Bible again:

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.” (John 20:22-23)

This is what the Bible says. Any attempt to remove the plain meaning of these words is placing the manmade traditions of the Protestant reforms over the words of the Bible.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

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.” (John 20:22-23)

Read it in Greek.

[metmom]

God promises forgiveness on confession and does not require a priest to do so.

In the Lord’s prayer, the prayer is to the Father and is asking HIM for forgiveness.

[blackpacific]

Yes, the only other time that God breathed on man is when he formed Adam from the slime of the Earth in breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.