[Infowarrior] - Forgiveness via iPhone: Church approves confession app

[Richard Forno]

Forgiveness via iPhone: Church approves confession app
http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/onepercent/2011/02/confession-app-approved-by-chu.html

16:30 8 February 2011
Apps
Technology
Niall Firth, technology editor

Even for the most ardent Catholic, it can sometimes be tricky making the time to confess your sins. So the Church, as part of a new  technology-friendly push, has now approved an iPhone app that lets busy Catholics admit their wrongdoings while on the move.

Selling for $1.99, "Confession: A Roman Catholic App" was developed as an aid "for those who frequent the sacrament and those  who wish to return," according to Little iApps, the firm behind the idea. Its makers insist it is not a replacement for confessing in person with a priest, but instead helps to keep track of all the evil things you have done since the last time you confessed by ticking off some of the most common failings. Deviants get the opportunity to add their own, bespoke, sins as they go.

The app offers a step-by-step guide to the different ways in which the user might have sinned and offers them seven acts of contrition - ways in which they can atone for their sins. The app was given the Church's official seal of approval, the imprimatur, by Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend in Indiana.

But while it is the first to have been officially sanctioned by the Church, there are a host of other apps available for the digital-savvy churchgoers. iBreviary, iMass and iMissal are all iPad apps that contain the entire service of mass for Catholics and other Christians. And the Catholic Quiz app, marshalled by a fearsome-sounding digital nun called Sister Crack-Your-Knuckles, lets users brush up on their knowledge of all things Catholic. 

Meanwhile, the Holy Rosary app is a graphical way for Catholics to keep track of their prayers, while the Patron Saints and Candles app contains a list of 75 patron saints and a digital candle that can be lit during prayers. 

"Our desire is to invite Catholics to engage in their faith through digital technology," Little iApps' Patrick Leinen told Reuters. 

The Confession app's approval forms part of a broader move by the Church to embrace new technology, following Pope Benedict's speech earlier this year at World Communications Day in which he said that Catholics should make "good use of their presence in the digital world."

In 2009 the Vatican launched its own YouTube channel, which shows video and text of the Pope's addresses.