Editor’s Note: It has been the goal of all the enemies of the Catholic Church to force priests to break the seal of confession and reveal what they have heard during this august Sacrament. Numerous attempts have been made in the last century in the Soviet Union, Communist China and in the West by local jurisdictions. — That Pope Francis’ new Cardinal for Hong Kong has not objected is a very grave matter, as it shows the trajectory of what globalists Judas Iscariots want to happen.
Let us continue to pray that the Lord Jesus cleanse His Church of the rot that His bishops fail to cleanse.
My local, very awake priest, insists that all penitents place their smartphones in faraday wallets and leave them outside the confessional.
Liam, that’s it! Thank you for your comment. I had been telling that people for long time. They look at me, like I was a lunatic. Nobody takes it seriously, how important this is. Satan is in the possesion of all this technology, There’s no way it’s not going to use it against catholics.
As a theological note, Satan like all angels and demons are referred to as “he, him”, not an “it”, on account of the fact that Angels have a purely active being.
This is only a good idea if the phones are first switched “off”.
If not, it may achieve very little, except hotter phones with more depleted batteries.
Much depends on the shielding quality of the “Faraday wallet(s)”, which I very much doubt most users have the means or methods to determine.
A mobile phone is more hazardous to its user when it is at the very limit of range of its corresponding cell “tower” or antenna, because at that range, it has to turn up its own transmitter power to maintain connection quality with the cellular network.
Putting a phone in a “Faraday wallet” will certainly impede the signals to and from the cellular network, but is unlikely to be enough to break the connection, unless the phone reception is already marginal.
My initial thought was that this should at least encourage a return to anonymous confession in separate cubicles, with a gauze between Priest and penitent.
Here in UK, at one Parish I attend in one Diocese, there are constant reminders not to take phones into church and if taken, to switch them off completely, especially if attending Confession.
Since most phones track location to some degree even when switched “off”, the first recommendation is by far the best!
Apparently, in another Parish in the Diocese, it was noted that some penitents who confessed to certain sins were being targeted with ads both for products and services that would lead them to indulge further in those sins and/or for products and services that could help them turn away from those sins.
After some serious investigation, it was found that they had been bringing their phones to Confession.
At another Parish I attend, in a different Diocese, there are no such warnings.
So I expect that at least two thirds of penitents in that Parish and Diocese are unwittingly allowing their phones to share details of their Confessions – even if “only” locations and times.