What would Jesus do (with an iPhone)?
One thing He wouldn’t do is allow anyone to absolve their sins through an iPhone application, according the Vatican. All Catholics must visit with an ordained priest in order to receive a valid penance and be forgiven for their sins, the Vatican said today.
Yesterday, an iPhone application called “Confession: A Roman Catholic App” was introduced by Indiana company Little iApps. For $1.99, iPhone owners can download the app, which walks them through the Ten Commandments and asks a series of questions in order to determine how many sins the user has committed.
Before you assume that Patrick Leinen of Little iApps was simply out to make a quick buck off of people’s bad deeds, it seems the company worked closely with a Catholic bishop in order to make the app as useful and relevant as possible to those who download it.
Leinen said the app represents an honest attempt by his company, and it seems, the Catholic Church, to use digital technology in order to engage Catholics in their faith. Before the app was released this week, it was formally granted an imprimatur, or official Church authorization. Bishop Kevin C. Rhodes of Indiana authorized the imprimatur.
Leinen said the app can help Catholics who have not been involved with the Church, or its seven holy sacraments, to reacquaint themselves with the sacrament of penance and reconciliation.
But the Vatican stepped in today to make an official statement about the iPhone app, essentially rendering it worthless in terms of its ability to engage Catholics in the actual sacrament of penance.
“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,” Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi told journalists. “I must stress to avoid all ambiguity, under no circumstance is it possible to ‘confess by iPhone’,” he said.
As Bloomberg pointed out today, the Catholic Church has been accepting of technology and social media in order to get its message out to the more than 1 billion Catholics worldwide.
Former pontiff John Paul II called the Internet an effective tool to “promote justice and solidarity.” Pope Benedict XVI, the current spiritual leader of the Catholic Church, is finding a happy balance between utilizing technology and maintaining the strict traditions of the Church. He has appeared on YouTube and on Internet chat forums in the last few years. Some Vatican officials have even used Facebook Inc. to speak about their faith in God.
Although the Catholic Church has been progressive on certain issues, it comes as no surprise that sins cannot yet be forgiven online or through an application drawn up by a for-profit technology company. “Forgive me iPhone for I have sinned,” is a phrase that is will not gain merit in the Catholic Church for quite some time.
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