The Cologne Cathedral has hired lawyers to take legal action against Niantic, the maker of PokémonGO, after the company ignored requests to remove game items from the church.
A representative of the church said “the cathedral isn’t a playground.”
In other places in the world, Catholics and other Christians have lauded the fact that the game is bringing non-religious people to church buildings, saying that it is a chance for evangelization.
PokémonGO is an augmented-reality smartphone game in which players have to travel to real-world places to find virtual creatures on their phones. The game exploded in popularity upon release and has led to huge crowds of people playing the game in public areas.
Bishop Kevin Vann of Orange County, CA posted pictures on social media of himself trying to catch pokémon. And Bishop David Ricken of Green Bay took the game’s popularity as an opportunity to talk about Jesus on Twitter, saying: “You might never find a Pikachu, but I promise you this – Search for Jesus, and you’ll find Him every time. Let #PokemonGO. Go #FindGOD.”
There are also rumors that an ultra-rare pokémon is hidden somewhere in the Vatican.
Here’s a video that shows the kind of crowds the game can create:
What do you think: is this the right thing for the Cologne Cathedral to do? Let us know in the comments!
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