Robot priest unveiled in Germany to mark 500 years since Reformation

BlessU-2, which delivers blessings in five languages, is intended to trigger debate about the future of the church

Five hundred years after revolutionary printing presses spread news of Martin Luther's radical call for church reform across Europe, technology is again challenging religious tradition in the small German town of Wittenberg.

A robot priest that delivers blessings in five languages and beams light from its hands has been unveiled as part of an exhibition to mark the anniversary of the start of the Reformation, a Europe-wide religious, political and cultural upheaval sparked when Luther nailed his 95 theses to a church door in the town.