The Vatican has devised a digital way to spread the Catholic gospel to today’s tech-savvy teens: the “Click To Pray” eRosary.
In a move that just screams Steve Buscemi’s “How do you do, fellow kids?” meme, a Taiwan-based tech firm Gadgtek devised a $109 religious recruitment tool, which consists of 10 consecutive rosary beads that wrap around your the wrist like any traditional rosary, reports the BBC.
However, unlike its traditional predecessor, the eRosary links to a “Click To Pray” prayer app of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network. The device is activated by making the sign of the cross.
Targeting tech-savvy teens is particularly important in a time when the percentage of US Gen-Zers who identify as atheists is twice that of the general adult population.
But the eRosary is more than just a kitschy gimmick, the Vatican claims. The Vatican News markets the device as a technological teaching tool that imparts upon youngsters “how to pray the rosary for peace in the world and spread the gospel.”
Once activated, “The user has the possibility to choose either to pray the standard rosary, a contemplative rosary [or] different kinds of thematic rosaries that will be updated every year,” says Vatican News.
And don’t skip any verses — God is watching, and so is the eRosary, which tracks your prayerful progress by keeping tabs on each rosary completed, and even features a movement-detecting metal cross. The gospel-spreading gadget’s app also provides audio and visual explanations as well as original religious content to guide users along in their worship
If it wasn’t multifaceted enough already, the eRosary is also waterproof, compatible with both Android and iOS, and allows you to track your health via the app, like a Cistercian smart watch.
“This project brings together the best of the Church’s spiritual tradition and the latest advances of the technological world,” said a Click To Pray press release.
This isn’t the Vatican’s first attempt to attract disciples in the digital age. Three years ago, Pope Francis made waves online after starting his own Instagram account, which quickly racked up 10 times more followers than JC himself.
That same year, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg gifted his holiness a solar-powered drone capable of emitting an internet signal in remote areas.
Source: Nypost
