iPhone App Receives Blessings By Pope

For centuries a prerogative of priests and priests only, the Catholic Church has made a leap into the 21st century by approving an iPhone app to help along confessions. This application, which has been described as “the perfect aid for every penitent”, offers instructions on how to go about one’s confession, taking the users through the holy sacrament, allowing them to keep track of their sins. This is to encourage sinners to understand their actions and then go visit their priest for absolution.

Now if the Vatican has such faith in digital technology, one wonders why not make a direct line to god? Why is a priest still needed in-between?

Of course there is also the small matter of paying for the confession program; iTunes are offering it for $1.99. Taking into account that there are more than a billion Catholics on this planet, the Vatican’s coffers and Apple will receive quite a big boost.

In his World Communications Address on 24 January, the Pope urged his flock to embrace digital communication but warned at the same time to remember that digital communication is part of a bigger picture: “It is important always to remember that virtual contact cannot and must not take the place of direct human contact with people at every level of our lives.”