But Phage, you DO know that Catholics hold that Jesus is the ONLY way the ONLY thruth and the ONLY life? (and held it for 1500 years before there were any Protestants around)
As to narrowing JUST to Catholics, Polycarp and others have pointed out that the very same (or very similar) view of ABSOLUTION is held by the Orthodox (both Eastern and Oriental), the Anglicans, Old Catholics, Polish National Church and, possibly, Lutherans (and I’m sure I’m missing a couple).
If you read tomndebb´s post on the Catholic rite of absolution. it is clear who’s doing the forgiveness, GOD, simply because no one else can do it, the Priest just stamps your “library card”, so to speak, and that no matter how many times you go to Confession no Priest (not even the Pope) can absolve you (validly) if you haven’t repented yourself, he may say the words, but they just don’t count , it isn’t magic.
A cople of quotes (with paragraph numbers) from the Catechism (emphasis mine):
1422 “Those who approach the sacrament of Penance obtain pardon from God’s mercy for the offense committed against him, and are, at the same time, reconciled with the Church which they have wounded by their sins and which by charity, by example, and by prayer labors for their conversion.”
1441 Only God forgives sins. Since he is the Son of God, Jesus says of himself, “The Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins” and exercises this divine power: “Your sins are forgiven.” Further, by virtue of his divine authority he gives this power to men to exercise in his name.
1442 Christ has willed that in her prayer and life and action his whole Church should be the sign and instrument of the forgiveness and reconciliation that he acquired for us at the price of his blood. But he entrusted the exercise of the power of absolution to the apostolic ministry which he charged with the “ministry of reconciliation.” The apostle is sent out “on behalf of Christ” with “God making his appeal” through him and pleading: “Be reconciled to God.”
1444 In imparting to his apostles his own power to forgive sins the Lord also gives them the authority to reconcile sinners with the Church. This ecclesial dimension of their task is expressed most notably in Christ’s solemn words to Simon Peter: “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” "The office of binding and loosing which was given to Peter was also assigned to the college of the apostles united to its head."46
1445 The words bind and loose mean: whomever you exclude from your communion, will be excluded from communion with God; whomever you receive anew into your communion, God will welcome back into his. Reconciliation with the Church is inseparable from reconciliation with God.
You may think all of this is a load of crap, but at least don’t accuse us of what we don’t believe.
If you, on the other hand, want to debate whether Catholics are Christians or not, that is a matter for another thread.
“To be deep in history is to cease to be Protestant”
John Henry Cardinal Newman