It is now technically and liturgically apropos to use the iPad in church.The Vatican has approved the use of an iPad on the altar, in lieu of the normal Catholic missal, the Associated Press said.
The free application was the handiwork of Rev. Paolo Padrini, who also developed the iBreviary two years before.
The latter is the Catholic book of daily prayers that priests have used on their iPhones.
It has gotten some 200,000 downloads, the AP said.
The iPad will be launched in July and will contain a full Catholic missal which is used every Sunday during mass.
It will have translations in English, Italian, French, Spanish and Latin, the AP said.
Included will be the texts of the mass, the breviary, the readings of the mass, the main Catholic prayers, the stories of the saints, and the rites of Catholic celebrations including funerals, weddings and anointing the sick, beliefnet said.
Padrini, a consultant to the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Social Communications, said he expects the iPad to be helpful for priests who do a lot of travel related to their work, beliefnet said.
Padrini said, “We shouldn’t be scandalized that on altars there are these instruments in support of prayer.”
He assured that missal books will not disappear, but also said iPad upgrades are pending, which will include audio, church music, commentaries and homily suggestions, the AP said.
Pope Benedict XVI was given an iPod in 2006, and came to see how young people can be evangelized with the use of the new media.
The Vatican has a YouTube and Facebook account, the AP said.
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