The O’Sanctus app, created last year by Nigerian tech firm Applus Dome Limited, allows Catholics to attend virtual services, reserve time with priests and make financial offerings. It is part of a broader trend across Africa which has seen people worshipping remotely, often by watching sermons online, because of the widespread closure of churches. O’Sanctus, originally launched as a church management tool for one parish, covers four digitized parishes and has garnered more than 3,000 subscribers. The closures have played a crucial role in the battle to stop the novel coronavirus taking hold across Africa, which has the highest number of Christians of any continent – 631 million people as of 2018, or 45% of the continent’s population – according to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity.
SOURCE: REUTERS AFRICA
