VATICAN: POPE CELEBRATIONS FOR CHRISTMAS ONLINE

POPE'S CHRISTMAS CELEBRATIONS VIA THE INTERNET

VATICAN CITY, 23 DEC 2010 (VIS) - The websites of Vatican Radio (www.radiovaticana.org) and of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications (www.pccs.org), as well as the website www.pope2you.net, in close collaboration with the Vatican Television Centre (CTV) and through an agreement with Telecom Italia, will be offering a new service for the Christmas holiday period: live coverage of the liturgical celebrations presided by the Holy Father.

The Pope's celebrations - Midnight Mass on 24 December, his Christmas Message and "Urbi et Orbi" blessing at midday on 25 December, and Mass for the World Day of Peace on 1 January - will be transmitted in live audio/video linkup with commentary in six languages: Italian, French, English, German, Spanish and Portuguese. The Midnight Mass will also have commentary in Chinese, and the Mass of 1 January in Arabic.

The service has been made possible thanks to Telecom Italia's technology platform "Content Delivery Network", which enables rapid and effective distribution of multimedia content, making it accessible to computers and iPhones all over the world.

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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, 23 DEC 2010 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed:

- Bishop William Slattery O.F.M., of Kokstad, South Africa, as metropolitan archbishop of Pretoria (area 16,579, population 6,102,000, Catholics 206,200, priests 109, permanent deacons 11, religious 273), South Africa, and as the country's military ordinary. The archbishop-elect was born in Portlaoise, Ireland in 1943 he was ordained a priest in 1970 and consecrated a bishop in 1994.

- Msgr. Abel Gabuza, apostolic administrator of the archdiocese of Pretoria, South Africa, as bishop of Kimberley (area 123,083, population 1,968,000, Catholics 121,050, priests 40, permanent deacons 4, religious 25), South Africa. The bishop-elect was born in Alexandra, South Africa in 1955 and ordained a priest in 1984.

- Fr. Savio Hon Tai-Fai S.D.B., professor of theology at the seminary of Hong Kong, China, member of the International Theological Commission and academic ordinary at the Pontifical Academy of Theology, as secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, at the same time raising him to the dignity of archbishop. The archbishop-elect was born in Hong King in 1950 and ordained a priest in 1982.

- Archbishop Francesco Coccopalmerio, president of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, as a member of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

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