Vatican offended by blasphemous saint image downloading service

An Italian company has earned the wrath of the Catholic Church leaders by offering download services of images of saints.

London, Dec 5 : An Italian company has earned the wrath of the Catholic Church leaders by offering download services of images of saints.

McKay and Sisters, a Milan-based communications company, came up with the idea after noticing that many Italians carried religious images around with them in their wallets,

The service offers subscribers to receive up to three images of saints and great figures of the Church, including Pope John Paul II, Padre Pio and the Virgin Mary for three euros a week.

But some Catholic Church leaders have labelled it as blasphemous and commercial.

Italian bishops' conference accused the company of offending Catholics by "exploiting" their faith.

"This is a poor show and has nothing to do with faith," the Telegraph quoted Bishop Lucio Soravito De Franceschi, a spokesman on doctrinal matters, as saying.

"It is exploiting the faith, lowering it to banality with no sense. It is a blasphemous idea that will horrify the true faithful.

"For the Church a saint is someone of great heroic virtue, not someone to be commercially exploited," he added.

However, Barbara Labate, a director of the company, slammed the Church's response, insisting that her company's service was in tandem with the changing times.

"I had the idea from my mother who always puts a prayer card in her bag before travelling," Labate said.

"I don't think it is scandalous or blasphemous at all. We have had saint and prayer cards for more than 600 years and we will always continue to have them.

"What we are doing is moving with the times," she added.

ANI