Excerpts from the Writings of the Baha’i Faith…

Jan 7, 2020

To ask another person's forgiveness or pardon

We are forbidden to confess to any person, as do the Catholics to their priests, our sins and shortcomings, or to do so in public, as some religious sects do. However, if we spontaneously desire to acknowledge we have been wrong in something, or that we have some fault of character, and ask another person's forgiveness or pardon, we are quite free to do so. The Guardian wants to point out, however, that we are not obliged to do so. It rests entirely with the individual. 
- Shoghi Effendi  (From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, quoted by the Universal House of Justice to the National Spiritual Assembly of Canada, March 19, 1973; compilation: ‘Lights of Guidance’)