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The Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Spain has created an online application enabling Catholics to light virtual prayer candles over the web. Worshippers who cannot get to church need only a credit card and an Internet connection to sign up for a prayer slot and buy a token of homage. The candle is then lit on an electronic board beside the remote pilgrim's chosen shrine.

The project has been launched just a month after a string of rosary applications was introduced on the iPhone allowing the faithful to count their blessings digitally.

Each online offering costs €1.39 (£1.19) and the digital devout can even light a candle by SMS. The first twenty pilgrims to place orders online have 31 minutes to say their prayers, while all thereafter get 11 minutes.

The dean of Santiago Cathedral, José María Díaz, made the point that the virtual candles constitute far less of a fire hazard than their forerunners and said that he anticipated more than half a million online offerings to be lit each year, with the cathedral receiving a third of the proceeds.

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