An enterprising Italian inventor has patented an automatic holy water dispenser for use in Catholic churches. Some parishes in northen Italy have already installed the fonts and many more all over the country are expected to follow suit.
These fonts replace the traditional open ones into which Catholics dip their hands upon entering and leaving a church. Luciano Marabrese says that he designed the dispenser because he feared that this tradition was about to disappear as churchgoers were beginning to worry about contracting swine flu through placing their hands in open fonts. Milan Cathedral had, in fact, banned their use. Fifteen people have already died of swine flu in Italy.
Mr Marabrese’s invention looks like a traditional terracotta font but contains an infrared light which detects the presence of a hand. The water is then squirted out in the same way as liquid soap from a soap dispenser in a public toilet, as the following video sh
Father Pierangelo Motta of Fornaci di Briosco, near Milan, where one of the dispensers is being tried out, says that people in the town were initially a little wary of the machine but that they now use it with confidence. Mr Marabrese has been inundated with requests from all over the world for more information about the machine.
In another move which sees the Catholic Church striding confidently into the twenty-first century, the Vatican has invited experts from Google, Facebook, Youtube and Wikipedia to speak at its Bishops’ Conference, held in Rome from today, about new ways of communicating with young people. Their Excellencies will also be taught how to combat hacking.
Do you think the automatic holy water dispenser is a good idea?
