I never thought this day would come, but it turns out that there is a limit to what the Internet can do after all.
You can book vacations, buy movie tickets, food and just about everything
else on the Internet, but as the Vatican declared yesterday, you will never have your sins forgiven online.
The very fact that a top Vatican official had to tell Italian media that the Roman
Catholic Church would rule out giving confessions over the Internet means that someone somewhere suggested such a service, which in my book is located somewhere between laughable and horrifying.
Call me old-fashioned, but I think it's a good thing that no one (as far as I can tell) had suggested that online confession be ad-supported. If that were the case, we'd really be in trouble.
Diplomatically giving the web a plug, Archbishop John Foley, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communication, was quoted saying that the Internet is a "wonderful instrument for
evangelization and pastoral service, but it will never be possible to confess online."
He said that a document to be issued by the Council would say confession must always be carried out
within the sacramental context of face-to-face meetings.
So much for the unlimited power of the Internet!
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