The Vatican has criticized a new iPhone app for Catholics that lists sins and is designed to be taken to confessional, the Holy See Press Office said on Thursday.
The iPhone application, described as the ''perfect aid for every penitent'', was unveiled on February 2 and triggered discussions about its validity. The $1.99 app allows users to make a list of their sins according to age, gender and vocation (single, married, priest, or religious).
The sacrament of penance requires a personal dialogue between the penitent and the confessor in order for absolution to be given, the Vatican's statement quoted Father Federico Lombardi, the Director of the Holy See Press Office, as saying.
"This cannot be replaced by any computer application such as the iPhone," Lombardi said.
On February 9, a bishop from the U.S. Diocese of Fort Wayne, Indiana, Kevin Rhodes, granted the app an imprimatur, an official approval from the Catholic Church.
ROME, February 10 (RIA Novosti)
