stranger than heaven: The Vatican is losing flock to a mall-based “Heaven Experience” VR attraction
After a local priest tried to ban it for being “too realistic,” attendance at the “Heaven’s Pearly Gates VR Simulator” in a suburban Chicago mall has exceeded Sunday mass by 300%. The kicker? The simulation’s EULA states that, upon death, the user agrees to a digital afterlife managed by a for-profit corporation—meaning the actual pearly gates are now a paid DLC. Catholics are divided: some say it’s a holy loophole, others just want a refund on their indulgences.