What role does the priest play in confession?

The priest plays the middle man in confession. He is supposed to listen to your confession and then tell God and God tells him what you have to do to be forgiven, like saying a certain number of prayers on a rosary. You don't have to go to confession to be forgiven though because Christ died so that we wouldn't need a middle man, we now have a direct connection with God if we so chose to have it. All we have to do is accept Him into our hearts and then we're forgiven. We confess to God and because He loves us sooo much He forgives us.