Confession: A Roman Catholic App, may have received an imprimatur from Bishop Kevin C Rhodes of the Diocese of Fort Wayne, Indiana, but the Vatican is not being so accepting of the app.
“It is essential to understand that the rites of penance require a personal dialogue between penitents and their confessor … It cannot be replaced by a computer application,” AFP reported Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi as saying.
“I must stress to avoid all ambiguity, under no circumstance is it possible to ‘confess by iPhone’,” Lombardi added.
The app, which is available via Apple’s iTunes, comes up with a personalised examination of conscience for each user, password-protected profiles and a step by step to the sacrament.
Users can choose from seven different acts of contrition and can calculate the time of their last confession in days, weeks, months and years.
Confession: A Roman Catholic App‘s developer, Patrick Leinen, said the app was designed to be used in the confessional and was intended “for those who frequent the sacrament and those who wish to return.”
