They actually look pretty nice—made in Italy, no surprise:

The terracotta dispenser, used in the northern town of Fornaci di Briosco, functions like an automatic soap dispenser in public washrooms a churchgoer waves his or her hand under a sensor and the machine spurts out holy water.It has been a bit of a novelty. People initially were a bit shocked by this technological innovation but then they welcomed it with great enthusiasm and joy. The members of this parish have got used to it, said Father Pierangelo Motta.

H/T: RNS blog.

David Gibson is director of the Center on Religion and Culture at Fordham University and an occasional contributor to Commonweal.

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