Need to Confess Your Sins? There's an App for That

Confession is getting a tech-aged update.

A new iPhone and iPad app allows users to go walks users through most of the process of Catholic confession, and it's received the church's approval. But while it shows users can how to confess their sins using the password-protected service, sinners will still have to go to an actual priest to receive absolution.*

A Catholic bishop has approved the new $1.99 app called "Confession: A Roman Catholic App." Patrick Leinen, the app's creator, told Time the goal is to help churchgoers through the process as well as to encourage lapsed Catholics to come back to the faith.

"Our desire is to invite Catholics to engage in their faith through digital technology," Leinen also told Fox. He said Bishop Kevin Rhoades, of the Diocese of Fort Wayne in Indiana, officially authorized the app for Catholics to use.

*A point of clarification. The app only walks Catholics through the sacrament of confession and contains what the company behind the program describes as a "personalized examination of conscience for each user," as the Fox link to the story explains. Again, the app itself does not offer absolution. As one reader pointed out, it's akin to a "how to" book.