(The Conversation) — In the future, a program like AI Jesus could be used to hear confessions around the clock. But with no experience of having a human body, it cannot engage or absolve human sins.

Father Jiha Lim listens to a penitent’s confession March 7, 2021, at St. Aloysius Church in Great Neck, N.Y. (Credit: Gregory A. Shemitz/CNS.) Listen ROME — Every year, for more than three decades, ...

When I was a boy, almost nothing I said in confession altered the response of Father Kelly, our Irish pastor. “Say three Hail Marys and renew your confidence in God and in yourself.” Once he did add ...

Following sexual abuse scandals in the Catholic Church, there is a worldwide push to end the guarantee of secrecy of confession – called “the seal of the confessional.” On Sept. 11, 2019, two ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Visitors were invited to pose questions to the AI Jesus, viewed on a monitor behind a latticework screen. (Courtesy of the ...