Vatican: You can't confess your sins to an iPhone app

Vatican says Catholics an app for your iPhone can't replace a visit to the confessional.

Confess to your iPad? Not so fast, says the Vatican.

Officials in Rome have declared that an app available on Apple's iPhones, iPads and the iPod touch cannot serve as a confessional.

"One cannot speak in any way of confessing via iPhone," Federico Lombardi, the Vatican's spokesman, said in a statement. "This cannot be substituted by any IT application."

Confession: A Roman Catholic app walks Catholics through the sacrament.

It also keeps track of your sins and the time between confessions, information it keeps locked away via password protection.

Created for "those who frequent the sacrament and those who wish to return," the Indianapolis-based developers Little iApps says the Confession was meant to be used while in the confessional, but not as a replacement for it.

"This app invites Catholics to prayerfully prepare for and participate in the Rite of Penance," it said in a press release.

The company claims the app received an "imprimatur" from Bishop Kevin C. Rhodes of the Diocese of Fort Wayne, suggesting it was approved by the Catholic Church.