A US-based software developer has just released what it claims is the world's first application of its kind for the iPhone and iPad to bear the official approval of the Catholic Church. Little iApp's Confession: A Roman Catholic App, touted as "the perfect aid for every penitent," offers a step-by-step guide through the Rite of Penance, in which Catholics admit and confess to their sins. The app's launch comes after the release last year of iBreviary, a "digital missal" that was also endorsed by the Catholic Church.
Little iApp's Confession: A Roman Catholic App offers a step-by-step guide through the Rite of Penance. Photo credit: www.littleiapps.com
Other key features of the
Confession app are:
- Custom examination of Conscience based upon age, sex, and vocation (single, married, priest, or religious)
- Multiple user support with password protected accounts
- Ability to add sins not listed in standard examination of conscience
- Confession walkthrough including time of last confession in days, weeks, months, and years
- Choose from 7 different acts of contrition
- Custom interface for iPad
- Full retina display support
The app is already
available for purchase in the iTunes store.
Just a guide, not a substitute On its website, Little iApps was quick to point out that the app is "designed to be used in the confessional" in front of a priest. "(It) does not and can not take the place of confessing before a validly ordained Roman Catholic priest in a Confessional, in person, either face to face, or behind the screen," the developers explained in the iTunes store.
Official blessing from the Catholic Church Little iApps claims that the program was developed in collaboration with Rev. Thomas G. Weinandy, OFM, Executive Director of the Secretariat for Doctrine and Pastoral Practices of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Rev. Dan Scheidt, pastor of Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Mishawaka, IN. More importantly,
Confession is claimed to have received a declaration of
nihil obstat from Reverend Monsignor Michael Heintz, PhD, Censor Liborum, and an
imprimatur from Bishop Kevin C. Rhodes of the Diocese of Fort Wayne–South Bend —supposedly the first such official blessing given by the Catholic Church to an iPhone or iPad app. An
Imprimatur (from the Latin for "Let it be printed") is an official declaration by an authority of the Catholic Church allowing the publication of a book or other printed work. The imprimatur is given only after the work has been thoroughly reviewed and declared —via
Nihil obstat (Latin, "Nothing hinders")— to be free of anything that may be contrary to Catholic doctrine. "Our desire is to invite Catholics to engage in their faith through digital technology. Our goal with this project is to offer a digital application that is truly 'new media at the service of the word'," Little iApps' Patrick Lenin
told Reuters.
'New horizons in the digital age' The launch of
Confession follows shortly after Pope Benedict XVI publicly
endorsed the use of social media in advance celebration of the 45th World Communications Day this coming June 5. "New horizons are now open that were until recently unimaginable; they stir our wonder at the possibilities offered by these new media and, at the same time, urgently demand a serious reflection on the significance of communication in the digital age," the Pope said. "As with every other fruit of human ingenuity, the new communications technologies must be placed at the service of the integral good of the individual and of the whole of humanity," he added.
Philippine Catholics and iPhone users The Philippines has an estimated
80 million Catholics out of a population of 99.9 million. While there is no data on the number of iPhone and iPad users in the Philippines, independent mobile metrics company
AdMob estimates that
9 percent of smartphones in the Philippines use Apple's iOS, the operating system found in the iPhone and iPad.
You may get in touch with the author via Twitter, @tjdimacali.
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