**Since no priest has the power to absolve sins, then, they’re not needed, now are they?**
You are not considering the words of Jesus to the Apostles: “What you forgive shall be forgiven; what you bind shall be bound.”
This is passed down to all priests through the Sacrament of Ordination.
At least we know our sins are forgiven and forgotten. Those who do not partake of the Sacrament of Penance will never know for sure.
"The second part of each conditional clause in this verse is in the passive voice and the perfect tense in the Greek text. The passive voice indicates that someone has already done the forgiving or retaining. That person must be God since He alone has the authority to do that (Matt. 9:2–3; Mark 2:7; Luke 5:21). The perfect tense indicates that the action has continuing effects; the sins stand forgiven or retained at least temporarily if not permanently.Reaction to their ministry would be the same as reaction to His had been. He viewed their forgiving and retaining the sins of their hearers as the actions of God’s agents. If people (“any” or “anyone,” plural Gr. tinon) believed the gospel, the disciples could tell the believers that God had forgiven their sins. If they disbelieved, they could tell them that God had not forgiven but retained their sins. Jesus had done this (cf. 9:39–41), and now His disciples would continue to do it. Thus their ministry would be a continuation of His ministry relative to the forgiveness of sins, as it would be in relation to the Spirit’s enablement. This, too, applies to all succeeding generations of Jesus’ disciples since Jesus was still talking about the disciples’ mission.
“. . . all who proclaim the gospel are in effect forgiving or not forgiving sins, depending on whether the hearer accepts or rejects the Lord Jesus as the Sin-Bearer.”653
Constable, T. (2003). Tom Constable’s Expository Notes on the Bible (Jn 20:23). Galaxie Software.
The apostles are dead.
So even if Jesus meant what the RCC says He meant, it’s pointless right now.
Sure they can because they can trust God.
The only ones who are not sure are the ones who are not trusting God and need to hear some man recite some formula at them.
I don't need any man to verify to me what God has already promised and if I need to hear it from fallible, sinful men but don't believe if from the infallible sinless God, then I am not trusting HIM but man.
Why would Catholics trust men over God? Isn't God's sure word good enough for them?
There is no such thing as a sacrament of penance...Penance is an action or money to pay for your sin...If you owe a penance, you owe a debt...
Rom 4:4 Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.
Rom 9:32 Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone;
Every time you do penance, you have fallen from grace...
That's not what it says in scripture. It says "shall have already been bound". That means that we are to proclaim what has been declared by God and the only source of our knowledge of what has already been declared in scripture. For the Catholic Church to presume to make directives to God is blasphemy.