Italian Firm Offers Saintly Mobiles

Anyone who visits Italy sees one sooner or later, most likely tucked into the frame of a mirror above a bar or taped to the dashboard of a taxi. But lots of devout Roman Catholic Italians carry them in their wallets and purses - little cards bearing the picture (or at least the imagined likeness) of a saint or other religious figure.

The most popular of these by far is Padre Pio, the controversial Capuchin friar who displayed the stigmata, the wounds of Jesus, and was made a saint five years ago. He even outstrips Jesus himself.

But the problem with the cards is that they have an unremitting habit of fading and turning up at the edges. Now an enterprising Milanese firm has the answer - down loadable sacred "wallpaper" for your mobile.

A website advertising the service at santiprotettori.com promises "Holy protection always with you on your mobile". For €3 (£2) a week, subscribers will get a choice of three saints, and for an extra 50 cents, a prayer to go with them.

A TV advertising campaign is to be launched on Friday.

A spokesman for the company behind the scheme, McKay & Sisters, said: "All we are doing is adapting to modern technology, just the way people moved on from parchment to paper."

But opinion in the Italian Catholic church is divided. Lucio Soravito, the bishop of Adria-Rovigo, called it a "dreadful idea that has nothing to do with the faith". But Father Antonio Mazzi, who runs a youth-oriented NGO, praised the service as a "modern way to use text messaging to get a religious message through to the young. Why not?"

According to catholic.org, in addition to Padre Pio, the company running the service will have 10,000 other saints to choose from in their catalog.