ABSOLUTION, in the Canon Law, is a juridical act, whereby the priest declares the sins of such as are penitent remitted.—The Romanists hold absolution a part of the sacrament of penance; the council of Trent, sess. xiv. cap. iii. and that of Florence, in the decree ad Armenos, declare the form or essence of the sacrament to lie in the words of absolution, I absolve thee of thy sins. The formula of absolution, in the Romish church, is absolute: in the Greek church, it is deprecatory; and in the churches of the reformed, declarative.