Pope gives his blessing to religious reboot of Pokemon Go mobile game

‘You know, Pope Francis is not a very technological person, but he was in awe of the idea’

A MOBILE phone game similar to Pokémon Go has been launched to encourage young Catholics to learn more about their faith and go to church.

The game, Follow JC Go!, which sees players answer questions on religion and visit churches, has reportedly been praised by Pope Francis. As with Pokémon Go, players explore the real world in order to look for collectible prizes, but instead of hunting monsters like Pikachu, they are rewarded by adding saints to their team.

According to Catholic newspaper Crux, Pope Francis has given the app his blessing. “You know, Pope Francis is not a very technological person, but he was in awe,” said Ricardo Grzona, executive director of Foundation Ramon Pane, which developed the game.

“He understood the idea, what we were trying to do – combine technology with evangelisation.”

For now, the game which uses the player’s smartphone camera to take in their surroundings, then superimposes digital characters, is only available in Spanish. It was made by an Argentinian team in preparation for World Youth Day 2019, a Catholic youth event taking place in Panama in January. Pope Francis’s Twitter account boasts 7.2million followers and he has called the internet a “gift from God”.

But, he has also warned against the overreach of technology.

“It’s important that media never become a threat to the real web of flesh and blood relationships by imprisoning us in a virtual reality,” the Pope told Catholics in Ireland earlier this year.