And this is where the concept gets interesting. The effectiveness of prayer has never been scientifically proven. How could it be? Miracles are notoriously difficult to verify, and the Vatican has a long, drawn out process by which it uses prayers and substantiated miracles to determine whether or not a given individual has made it past the pearly gates, and is in a position to intercede with heaven.

There are a lot of uncertainties. Who prayed for a particular outcome? To whom did they pray? Did they pray to anyone else or for any other cause? Does it require a certain number of prayers or a certain number of people? These are the unknowables that can mean the difference between sainthood and mere veneration.

Thanks to eRosary, religion and prayer now exist within a technological framework, and these things can be measured. The daily prayers pushed to worshippers through Click to Pray could be tailored towards a particular outcome or diverted via a particular saint, and the verified prayers of the faithful totted up behind the sandstone edifice on Borgo Santo Spirito. The results would be scrutinised methodically by the Pope’s finest data analysts, probing for patterns, checking medical records, and keeping an eye on their Google alerts feed for particular events.

Could it be proved that medical miracles, such as the remission of an aggressive and incurable cancer, can be brought about by the sincere wishful thinking of a few family members?

What if all of the thoughts and prayers which flood Facebook after a tragedy such as Sandy Hook could be converted to actual prayers towards a specific end. Christians believe that Jesus brought the dead back to life, and Catholics believe that saints possess that same ability.

How many thoughts and prayers would it take to resurrect a teenager killed in a car crash? Or an entire class of first graders? To whom are the prayers best directed? Do they need to be simultaneous or will it still work if a million prayers are scattered over the course of a week? The data, faithfully gathered by the eRosary, will tell us.

This is, of course, assuming that the Click to Pray software isn’t hijacked for nefarious purposes. Security on the digital rosary is woeful, and a week after its launch, the gadget was declared to be eminently hackable by consulting firm, Fidus Information Security, who, “in just 10 minutes found some glaring issues.”