Co-founder Alex Jones expressed his astonishment at the app's recent success. "For the first time in history, Jesus has the #1 app in the App Store.

"We're already ranking ahead of Netflix on the App Store charts and Lent hasn't even started yet" Jones said. "Glory to God."

Since its inception in 2018, Hallow has enjoyed widespread popularity within the Catholic community. However, Jones says the team is "blown away" that it reached the top spot across all apps.

"When we started Hallow, it would've been crazy for us to imagine a thousand people praying together on it, much less 1 million" Jones told FOX Business.

Catholicism censorship

Despite its success, the Super Bowl advertisement featuring actor Mark Wahlberg (pictured) faced scrutiny and censorship.

The ad was edited, possibly by Paramount/CBS, to remove depictions of Jesus and the Cross. There appeared to be three significant changes.

In the original version, Wahlberg walks into a church with a large image of Christ above an altar holding the words "I AM WHO AM"; in the broadcast version, Christ is cropped out.

Secondly, in the original, a family makes the sign of the cross at the dinner table; in the broadcast version, the sign is edited out.

And thirdly, in the original version, a person receives a cross of ashes on his forehead; in the broadcast version, the cross is washed out.

Despite the alterations, the Hallow ad resonated with viewers, prompting an influx of users seeking spiritual guidance during the Lenten season.

Sources

Fox News

Catholic Culture

CathNews New Zealand

Downloads of Hallow have grown sevenfold during the past year while Covid-19 spread, with spikes in demand during the recent Easter season and Lent, said founder and Chief Executive Officer Alex Jones.

The cash injection for the Chicago-based company was led by General Catalyst and was a big endorsement in the niche religious-app market that typically sees average investment sizes of $2 million, according to data from PitchBook and Crunchbase.

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