Religion: Highly publicized Catholic Christmas – the Pope's program

Christmas et Nouvel An au Vatican

On December 24th and January 1st, millions of people will have access to Pope Benedict XVI's messages. Translations into Chinese and Arabic, in addition to the usual languages, will be available.

Pope's program:

– December 24 live on BBC4 from 8:45 a.m.
– December 24, 6 p.m. lighting of the “light of Peace” at the Apostolic Palace
– December 24, 10 p.m. Midnight Mass at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

– December 25, 12 p.m. From the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica, Urbi et Orbi message, an appeal for peace in dozens of languages.

– December 31 Vespers at Saint Peter Te Deum
– January 1, 2011 mass at 10 a.m.

All these events will be broadcast live and in high definition on the websites of Vatican radio and TV.

Languages to choose from: Italian, French, English, German, Spanish and Portuguese, with the addition of Chinese for December 24th and Arabic for January 1st.