Need to prepare for confessional or study the sacrament? Now, there’s an app for that.
The mobile applications company Little iApps has teamed with two Catholic priests to create “Confession: A Roman Catholic App.”
The app, now available for download on iTunes, does not absolve users from guilt itself. Rather, it’s designed to be used in the confessional, according to the company’s Web site.
Reportedly the first app to receive an imprimatur, or religious sanction, it guides users through a series of questions that examine consciousness, tracks the last date of a confession and prepares users for the Rite of Penance.
“In all seriousness, I think this app may be a boon for the sacrament,” Father Edward L. Beck, religion contributor for ABC News, said “I’m all for whatever makes it easier for others to take that cleansing plunge.”
Word from the Vatican wasn’t as positive. In a statement this week, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said all Catholics know that technology cannot substitute the penitent and the priest.
“One cannot speak in any way of confessing via iPhone,” he said Feb. 9, Reuters reported.
The “Confessions” app is $1.99 on the iTunes store.