Maybe you’re wandering around one of Spain’s leafy plazas when you get that guilty itch. Perhaps you were being covetous, or taking the Lord’s name in vain; maybe you just forgot to call your mother again. Or maybe you’ve been busy retweeting fake news (which Pope Francis himself recently condemned). You’ve strayed from the path and given into sin — and need to confess.
Luckily, Spanish priests have your back. On Thursday, a new app called Confesor Go launched, allowing remorseful Catholic users to order up a confession as easily as an Uber or a Tinder date. The app, developed by Father Ricardo Latorre, detects a user’s location and plots a route to the nearest priest who’s signed up with the service. You can confess in a church, or, for convenience’s sake, in a public place, like a plaza, park, or even right on the street.
It looks like the Catholic Church’s latest effort to approach the smartphone generation. Pope Francis has often admonished priests not to turn off the faithful by being boring or inaccessible — and nothing is more accessible than being summoned like a cab.
While Catholicism remains a pillar of Spanish culture, Spanish churches have emptied out in recent decades and active participation took a nosedive. Just 15 percent of Spaniards said they go to Mass every week.
