Vatican: No, You Can't Confess to Your iPhone

Topics: In The News ,; Tech Talk

Some may have called it the "Jesus Phone" but the Vatican sought to remind the faithful that there are limits to mixing the sacraments with technology - even when it comes to the iPhone.

A new application for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch that lists sins to be taken to the confessional earned a cautionary warning from the Vatican on Thursday. Actually, it wasn't so much the app getting a rebuke as it was the hype which accompanied the app.

When it debuted earlier in the month, the $1.99 application, "Confession: A Roman Catholic App" was described as the ''perfect aid for every penitent." The program let users compile list of their sins. Users get taken through the Ten Commandments, with questions attached to each. The app displays the sins along with a written act of contrition for the penitent.

After Kevin Rhodes of U.S. Diocese of Fort Wayne, Indiana, gave the app an imprimatur, the story turned viral with some articles referring to the app as a "virtual priest." But in a statement put out by the Vatican, Father Federico Lombardi was quoted reminding Catholics that absolution requires a personal dialogue between penitents and the confessor.

"It's essential to understand that the sacrament of penance requires a personal dialogue between the penitent and the confessor, and absolution by the confessor who is present," he told reporters. "This is something that cannot be replaced by any application. One cannot speak of a 'confession via iPhone."

Patrick Leinen, who developed the iPhone application said he welcomed the Vatican statement that the sacrament requires oral confession to a priest. "This app is intended to help a person prepare for the sacrament of confession," Leinen said. "It is not intended to function as a replacement for confession."

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by steve8500 February 14, 2011 3:46 PM EST: In other words, Catholicism: There's an app for that?
At its deepest root, the Church is a brand, they are just trying to survive. So I can't say that I blame them. Here are some other things the Church does to keep their brand alive. http://www.weltbranding.com/blog/; Reply to this comment


by Red_feather February 11, 2011 9:52 AM EST: Vote for Ron Paul 2012.; Reply to this comment

by RedWings_ninety_one February 10, 2011 3:05 PM EST

by kikijq February 10, 2011 1:07 PM EST
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I personally know a priest who was the priest of my church a number of years back. He was busted for something of the same nature. Anyway, he was not sent to another parish as you suggested.

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by kikijq February 10, 2011 3:09 PM EST: It's fortunate he was busted and the situation wasn't covered-up like countless others were.
I personally know of more than one priest who frequented prostitutes - often on church grounds. They were never confronted, arrested, or moved. I guess the 'right' people didn't know about it.


by RedWings_ninety_one February 10, 2011 3:38 PM EST: I don't know what he did, but it was 23 years earlier and I don't think that it was with little children.

by tsigili February 10, 2011 2:17 PM EST

Confession is a foolish concept. Commit all kinds of crimes, atrocities, and sins, and then be forgiven for your behavior, and go on like it never happened.

Talk about irresponsible......its pathetic.

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by kikijq February 10, 2011 3:17 PM EST: Confession was introduced as a means of social control in the middle ages. If the church knew your sins & fears and had you convinced that you would go to hell if you didn't obey their law you became their bargaining chip with the local/regional political & military leaders because you could convince your congregants to align themselves with the King or the Sheriff or whomever was padding your pocket at the time. Even today, churches use unethical methods to quarry favor with governments. For the purpose of PACS (Political Action Committees) in the U.S., the Catholics report the # of Catholics as the number of Baptisms they've performed, not by the number of actual practicing Catholics. The number has meaning and translates to political power.
Yeah, I agree that confession is antiquated and foolish. I also think its a whole bunch of other stuff too...


by kikijq February 10, 2011 12:44 PM EST: The obvious insanity and hilarity aside, what about the app being an instrument of temptation, promoting SLOTH? What about the 'need' for an iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch to use the app and thus, promoting GREED? Did the good Bishop or the Vatican consider that? What about the app writers data mining your input and selling it to the highest bidder so they can now bombard you with marketing campaigns aimed at your confessed weaknesses? Have everyone lost their minds? Let's try THINKING FOR OURSELVES for a change instead of accepting everything that is spoon fed to us. GOD, not the church, gave you a soul, a mind, and free will. Do God a favor and put those gifts to good use instead of mindlessly following the lemmings.; Reply to this comment

by amerilatino February 10, 2011 12:03 PM EST

How about I confess to my cat? That'd be just about as useful and far more soothing... When I was a fit, handsome young teenager my parents wanted to put me in a secluded, all-male catholic academy run by priests, an urgent, inner voice within me said NO! so I fought it tooth and claw until they gave up. As things have panned out, maybe it was my guardian angel talking...

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by kikijq February 10, 2011 12:46 PM EST: I have no doubt it was your Guardian Angel.
BTW...my cat doesn't care what I do so long as he's fed. The dog, on the other hand, needs to know everything.

by RedWings_ninety_one February 10, 2011 11:40 AM EST

It just isn't the same...confessing to a computer rather than a messenger to God.

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by rf35 February 10, 2011 11:51 AM EST: My computer IS a messenger to god. Strike that, it's actually a messenger to the flying spaghetti monster.


by RedWings_ninety_one February 10, 2011 12:28 PM EST: .....okaaay


by kenhamlett February 10, 2011 11:07 AM EST: What if the confessor finds a way to use his credit card for a contribution? It seems that money and religion often go hand in hand so if credit cards are ok for money then iphones should be fine for confession.; Reply to this comment

by Rob459 February 10, 2011 10:29 AM EST

"Vatican: No, You Can't Confess to Your iPhone"

Why not? Can God only hear confessions through pedophiles?

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by RedWings_ninety_one February 10, 2011 11:41 AM EST: What an ass...not all catholics are like that....just because a few made the news for it on their crackdown, does not mean that that is the representation of the catholic church, or that all members of the catholic priesthood are as such.


by kikijq February 10, 2011 1:07 PM EST: No, not all Catholic Priests are pedophiles. However, if you recall the not-so-distant history of the scandal, the actions of a few pedophiles wasn't the only thing under fire. The actions taken by leaders of one of the most powerful and wealthy churches on the planet were of greater concern. A single pedophile can assault X amount of children before being discovered. Upon discovery, that person is subject to the laws of the community in which the crime occurred. This is not what happened with most of these men. They were simply moved to a different parish, given different duties, PERHAPS received some sort of counseling (I'm being generous here), and were left to repeat their crimes all over again, accumulating more and more victims. Pedophiles exist in all walks of life. The Priesthood is not immune (obviously). The Catholic church comes under fire however, because they actively chose to put their members in harms way by placing sexual deviants in positions of power & respect within unsuspecting communities. It's not like you can do a background check on your local Catholic Priest. You have no idea who you're dealing with and yet, because he wears a collar, you're supposed to trust & respect him. No thanks...