Confession goes digital through an iPhone app, as the Catholic Church hopes to encourage those who had lost their faith to step forward to get closer to God. This app is first of its kind to be approved by a major governing body of Christians.

The new app is called Confession, and is based on the Sacrament of Penance, a Catholic Church ritual used to help individuals confess sins committed after baptism.

The app was introduced by Patrick Leinen, of the three-man company Little iApps, based in South Bend, Ind. Leinen said Our desire is to invite Catholics to engage in their faith through digital technology.

Inspired by the message delivered by Pope Benedict XVI during the World Communications Address, the new app has found its way to a tech-crazy generation. But church officials based in South Bend clarified that the app was an aid to confession and not a substitute. It is designed so the person who plans to confess his sins can take time to understand their actions before visiting their priest.

The Confession app, with seven acts of contrition to choose from, can be purchased for $1.99 in the App Store. Believers, with the help of new app, will be able to track sins and do penance. The app also includes the Ten Commandments. Moreover, a step by step process of sacrament through new app enables examination of conscience based on a person's age, sex, vocation and the time elapsed since the last confession. And with a password protection system in place, privacy is assured.

The Church has embraced technology before, as it has a Vatican YouTube channel and encourages Catholics to connect with each other through social-networking sites.

Leinen says the app's magic has already helped one man in return to the sacrament after 20 years. When we were actually testing out the software before release, we had one gentleman who hadn't been to confession in about 20 years. He went in and did his confession with it and he said it made it much easier on him, he said.

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