confession

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
confession/kənˈfeʃn/

▶noun

• 1 a formal statement admitting to a crime.

  ■ a reluctant acknowledgement.

• 2 a formal admission of one's sins privately to a priest.

• 3 (also confession of faith) a statement setting out essential religious doctrine.

  ■ the religious body or Church sharing a confession of faith.

– derivatives
confessionary adjective.