Catholic Answers Senior Apologist Jimmy Akin answers a caller who asks if anointing of the sick can be a substitute for confession.
According to the Catechism, “This sacred anointing of the sick was instituted by Christ our Lord as a true and proper sacrament of the New Testament. It is alluded to indeed by Mark, but is recommended to the faithful and promulgated by James the apostle and brother of the Lord” (CCC 1511; Mark 6:13; Jas. 5:14-15).