{"id":244802,"date":"2025-10-28T03:38:40","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T03:38:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/244802\/"},"modified":"2025-10-28T03:38:40","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T03:38:40","slug":"churchs-futuristic-confessional-pod-sparks-war-of-words","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/244802\/","title":{"rendered":"Church\u2019s futuristic confessional pod sparks war of words"},"content":{"rendered":"

A futuristic confessional pod designed to put penitents at ease has sparked a fierce backlash from a local heritage group after its installation in an Italian church.<\/p>\n

Placed in a side chapel of the Santa Maria della Carita (Saint Mary of Charity) church in Bologna, the slick booth boasts soft lighting, interior niches for artwork and a Bible, and a semi-reflective laminated exterior with two minimalist lines forming a cross.<\/p>\n

It sits at the foot of a 16th-century painting by Annibale Carracci, a Bologna-born successor of Raphael and Michelangelo, which is the church\u2019s most treasured masterpiece.<\/p>\n

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Penitents and confessors sit face to face below an aperture offering a glimpse of Carracci\u2019s Crucifixion with Saints (1583). Sophisticated soundproofing and acoustics allow sounds from the church to filter in while preserving the privacy of confession.<\/p>\n

\"Interior<\/p>\n

Inside is soft lighting and a niche for a bible<\/p>\n

KRISTINA GULYAYEV\/CORRIERE DI BOLOGNA<\/p>\n

But the Committee for Historic Bologna has condemned the installation for what it described as \u201csinister squalor\u201d, calling for its removal and for the original wooden confessional to return in its place.<\/p>\n

In a Facebook post, the heritage group said the addition had transformed the chapel \u201cinto an abomination, and the inclusion of a pseudo-artistic object that has nothing to do with Annibale\u2019s painting or the church, requires urgent reflection\u201d. <\/p>\n

\"Annibale<\/p>\n

Crucifixion with Saints by Annibale Carracci<\/p>\n

ALAMY<\/p>\n

\"Santa<\/p>\n

The exterior of Santa Maria della Carita<\/p>\n

Confessional boxes first appeared in the 16th century, when Cardinal Charles Borromeo of Milan \u2014 a key figure of the Counter-Reformation \u2014 designed a wooden booth with a grille and curtain separating priest and penitent, to prevent inflamed passions as sins were confessed.<\/p>\n

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Laura Venturi, one of two architects behind the new confessional, defended the box, saying it provided worshippers with a much-needed private space for dialogue. \u201cThe previous confessional did not allow for face-to-face exchange, so they often found themselves confessing on two chairs pulled up in the church,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Venturi said the box was created \u201cin synergy\u201d with Don Davide Baraldi, the church\u2019s progressive priest and a part-time novelist known for promoting interracial dialogue.<\/p>\n

\"Don<\/p>\n

The church\u2019s priest, Davide Baraldi<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe are all used to seeing dark wood furnishings divided into two separate areas dedicated respectively to the priest and the faithful,\u201d Baraldi told newspaper Corriere della Sera. \u201cNot everyone has appreciated it \u2026 It sometimes takes time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Venturi indicated the model was replicable, meaning it could one day be seen in other churches.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A futuristic confessional pod designed to put penitents at ease has sparked a fierce backlash from a local…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":244803,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[76,354,355,49,48,356,75],"class_list":{"0":"post-244802","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-ca","12":"tag-canada","13":"tag-design","14":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244802\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}