According to the dictionary confession means: 1) a formal statement admitting that one is guilty of a crime, 2) an admission or acknowledgment that one has done something that one is ashamed or embarrassed about, 3) intimate revelations about a person’s private life or occupation, especially as presented in a sensationalized form in a book, newspaper, or movie, and 4) a statement of one’s principles.

Confessing Communities by Robin Tanner