This article aims to account for the displacement underwent by the phenomenon of forgiveness, from its essentially biblical origins to a level where what is gathered is an political treatment of forgiveness itself. The first moment is accounted for through an analysis of the forgiveness-words in the Old Testament and, along the same lines, of the related situations presented in the Gospels. Secondly, regarding political forgiveness, Paul Ricoeur's works and the impossibility of institutional forgiveness are taken into consideration. We will conclude with a brief reflection on the Chilean case and the post-Pinochet forgiveness.