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Following reports about the Church-approved iPhone confession app, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said yesterday that "under no circumstance is it possible to confess by iPhone." The AFP quoted Lombardi: "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."
The developer Little iApps earlier claimed that Bishop Kevin Rhoades of the Fort Wayne diocese in Indiana officially sanctioned the app, reports Reuters. However, they said the app "does not and cannot take the place of confessing before a validly ordained Roman Catholic priest in a confessional in person... The Congregation on Divine Worship and the Sacraments has long ruled that confessions by electronic media are invalid and that absolution by the priest must be given in person."
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