Forgiveness is the action by which we apologize to someone for our mistakes or admit the fault of the other and accept their request for forgiveness. 
In communication there is a link between sender and receiver and in the case of forgiveness it can be requested or it can be accepted.
It often happens that we make mistakes in our behavior, which cause annoyances or offenses to other people. If we are aware of the damage caused, we have a moral obligation to ask for forgiveness. It is a request that is requested to try to repair the damage caused. In these cases, we say forgive me or I ask for your forgiveness, hoping that it will be accepted, thus restoring the relationship between the two people.
In the reverse case, when we are the offended, it is the other who can request our forgiveness and we accept it or not. In either direction, forgiveness expresses repentance.
Forgiveness implies a high ethical sense, whether we forgive or are forgiven. If the forgiveness is sincere, it means that the offense or action that caused the discomfort is intended to be eliminated. It would be like a verbal pact between two individuals.
In a religious sense, forgiveness takes on a more solemn meaning. In fact, in the Catholic religion the believer is forgiven by the priest in the act of confession, which is one of the main sacraments, along with marriage, baptism and others.
In other religions there is also the phenomenon of forgiveness, although in another sense. An example is the Buddhist religion, a belief that believes that we have to eliminate negative ideas. To achieve this, forgiveness is a very useful mechanism, as it is a way that eliminates the internal discomfort that we may have as a result of an offense received.
The meaning of forgiveness applies in ordinary life, in the religious sphere, and also in a political sense. When a government makes the decision to release political prisoners from jail (as happened in Spain after the Franco dictatorship), it is granting them amnesty, which is synonymous with forgiveness. Something similar happens with end-point laws, in which a government makes the decision
to exonerate certain crimes committed with the intention of ending a problem.
In popular language there are a large number of expressions related to forgiveness: I forgive but I do not forget, you have to know how to forgive, etc. These phrases indicate that forgiveness is a universal mechanism and is something typical of the human being, of the ancient or contemporary world, of Eastern or Western culture.
