I’m more shocked that the developer of a “skill” that says the holy Mary makes $2 a month and has 10,000 users. That’s a sweet return for work that on the scale of copy-pasting the Alexa getting started tutorial.
People like what they like. Religion, games, tv shows-- people will spend huge amounts on all these things if they find value in it. That value isn't always apparent to others. Also I really wonder how many of those users don't know they're paying for a subscription
I remember downloading a digital clock widget for my ipad (for some reason the only native clock widget is analog), and then finding to use it they wanted £5 a month.
iirc, it all started with DarkSky, which was very reasonable, something like £1 a year, which made subscriptions for more "basic" apps acceptable, and from there its just got worse.
And things like DarkSky actually involve continuing to provide an appreciable service, a subscription model is quite reasonable. I have no problem with subscriptions for things with substantial back ends.
Some of the most profitable early apps on the apps stores were Bible apps. People love their religions and will happily spend money on following them.