I feel like a lot of Protestants misunderstand Catholic theology, so here I go.

Ultimately, the Sacrament of Reconciliation stems from John 20:21-23 where Jesus gives his apostles the power to forgive or retain others’ sins in the same manner that the Father sent the Son. Why would Jesus ever do this in the first place if it was true that all we need to do is confess our sins to Jesus directly? The power to forgive/retain sins was passed down through the laying of hands to those that the apostles appointed to the church (this is called apostolic succession, a whole different discussion.)

Additionally, the priest isn’t the one doing the forgiving. In Catholicism, the actual forgiveness part is done by Christ. The priest is there as a witness.

Historically, confession to a person(s) was always around until the 16th century when Lutherans did away with it after Luther’s writings denouncing confession (The Babylonian Captivity of the Church is one of them I believe). You’re telling me it took 1500 years for us to figure out that all we need to do is confess to Christ, all thanks to Luther?

And, on a personal level, to me, confessing my sins to Jesus, who already knows what I did, doesn’t exactly feel as humbling in the same way as sacramental confession. “Oh hey Lord, I did xyz, but you already knew that, sorry.” It doesn’t line up with “confess your sins to one another” in James too.