Vatican Unveils New JPII iPhone App For World Youth Day

By Francis X. Rocca
Religion News Service

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pilgrims at next month's Catholic World Youth Day in Madrid will have some high-tech help in their devotions, thanks to a new iPhone app unveiled at the Vatican on Friday (July 29).

World Youth Day (WYD), an international gathering held every three years in a different city, will take place August 16-21, culminating on the final day with an outdoor Mass celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI. In 2005, the last time the event was held in Europe, a papal Mass in Cologne, Germany, drew an estimated 1 million.

The new iJPII app, named for Pope John Paul II, who held the first WYD in 1986, offers a selection of prayers and poems by the late pontiff, and photos of him and his successor. Among the inspirational videos is one of the opera singer Leontyne Price performing the "Ave Maria."

The app, which also works on the Apple iPad and iPod devices, will provide continuously updated information about World Youth Day activities, directions to recommended restaurants and lodgings, and a sightseeing guide to Madrid. WYD participants will be able to track each other's location via GPS, using a social networking utility included in the app.

The iJPII app comes in five different languages: English, Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese. Designers said that a version in Benedict's native German was not prepared because of time constraints.

The app will be available in the Apple app store on August 1 for the price of 3.99 euros ($5.70). Designers say that they plan to introduce versions for Android, BlackBerry and Symbian smartphones for similar events in the future, perhaps in time for next year's International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin.

Comments

[Tanrioldu]

12:52 PM on 08/03/2011

If the Vaticons wants to modernize itself, instead of making iPhone apps why not do things like:

1. Stop prohibiting birth control
2. Prosecute child molesting priests instead of protecting them
3. Allow their priests to have sex and get married if they want
4. Stop being so homophobic
5. Allow women to become priests.

[grailknight]

08:26 PM on 08/03/2011

That would be substantive, not transubstantive!

[alterego55]

04:14 PM on 08/01/2011

OMG, Angry Birds is free, but to get the the daily dope on the Pope you have to pay 3.99 Euros ... priceless.

[Tanrioldu]

12:54 PM on 08/03/2011

what did you expect? the pope mobile's bullet proof glass ain't free you know... ;)

and if you ever go to any catholic basilica or cathedral, you will see they charge anywhere between $5-$10 just to light a fkn prayer candle.

[alterego55]

02:39 PM on 08/03/2011

"the pope mobile's bullet proof glass ain't free"

Neither is all the gold and real estate the church owns.

[KrautMan]

10:53 AM on 08/01/2011

"... offers a selection of prayers and poems by the late pontiff, and photos of him and his successor."

Are you kidding me? That's so 2010. No interaction with the church, the pope, the Spirit, nothing?

A modern app should at the very least offer this:

- ConfessNowâ„¢: A prerecorded confession is sent to the nearest priest at the push of a button in life-threatening situations

- IntoTheLightâ„¢: near-death-experience GPS-navigator

- InquisitionInteractiveâ„¢: 101 techniques of massively enhanced interrogation

- WitchFinderâ„¢: identify witches in your address-book, based on a random algorithm

- DemonOutâ„¢: exorcise those pesky demons, includes StrongBondsâ„¢, a beginners guide to restraining techniques

- JesusParkâ„¢: GPS-based, fully automated prayer for finding parking lots in inner cities

- ArkBookâ„¢: Find your friends on other arks and share comments, pictures and videos, while every other living being drowns miserably (not guaranteed for fish and other aquatic lifeforms)

I could go all day long, so if anyone responsible for this product reads this, don't hesitate to contact me.

[alterego55]

04:16 PM on 08/01/2011

You forgot "Where in the World is Fr. Damien"â„¢, a priestly pedophile locator program.

[KrautMan]

04:47 PM on 08/01/2011

I know, I know, but I sincerely think that it's not fair to paint basically all male catholics as pedophiles. Which you kind of do, in this context. I, too, use this angle every now and then, but only if the context warrants it and only regarding the organization, not its flock or priesthood in general. Fair is fair. Hope this doesn't come across as patronizing, just my two cents.

[KrautMan]

01:25 PM on 08/02/2011

I saw your reply to the post below and you are correct, you didn't paint believers in general. But still, c'mon.

Cheers.

[skraeling]

07:55 PM on 07/31/2011

Kiddie porn???

[Tanrioldu]

12:54 PM on 08/03/2011

you have to unlock the "pope-mode" on the app for that

[asmir]

07:53 PM on 07/31/2011

this will take exorcism to a new level!

[lacy41]

06:47 PM on 07/31/2011

LOL!

[ThinkCreeps]

05:21 PM on 07/31/2011

Any phone can easily simulate the attentions of the vatican.

Take a young person with a phone. Set phone to vibrate. Place phone in pants. Call.

[Tanrioldu]

12:55 PM on 08/03/2011

preferably boys between the ages of 7-12

[helioszephyr]

03:55 PM on 07/31/2011

I'm sure an app for donations is in the works.

[LintLass]

09:02 AM on 07/31/2011

It's nice to know that with all the trouble in the world and the Church's own misdeeds coming out.... They're releasing a new self-promoting Iphone app every month.

[mcmutter]

06:59 AM on 07/31/2011

new Vatican app .....

reports your pedo molester directly to the pope so he can set settlement monies aside .....

[Tanrioldu]

12:55 PM on 08/03/2011

lol so much win

[ThinkCreeps]

02:09 AM on 07/31/2011

Almost all phones have this app built in. She just set it vibrate, shove it into your pants and get someone to call.

[anastasiabeaverhousen]

11:54 PM on 07/30/2011

iGotskrewed? What does it dial? 911?

[apathyman]

09:10 PM on 07/30/2011

lol and here I thought they were going to call it imolest

[juna]

08:32 PM on 07/30/2011

But the phone app can't forgive sins! What a shame! So many priests were hopeful.

[floodberg]

08:21 PM on 07/30/2011

Let me get this straight: 

We're talking about Benedict, Right?


BXVII, A German Pope who was not only a Nazi, but deserted and sat out the war in an Allied camp, whose brother Georg confessed to hitting choir boys, who ran the Inquisition under JPII and blocked abuse cases from investigation by using unethical methods to silence victims....

This is a joke, right? 

People still let their kids attend the Catholic Church?

[Tanrioldu]

12:57 PM on 08/03/2011

shockling yes. and people even teach their kids religion... its appalling. should be booked for child abuse.

(no sarcasm intended)