Live streaming for Pope's Christmas mass

Pope Benedict XVI's traditional Christmas Eve mass will be streamed live on the Internet in six languages and available on iPhones around the world, the Vatican said Wednesday.

The Italian-language mass will be translated into English, French, German, Portuguese and Spanish. The pope's "Urbi et Orbi" blessing on December 25 and the New Year's Day mass will also be available, the Vatican added in a statement.

There will also be a commentary in Chinese for the Christmas Eve mass and in Arabic for the New Year's Day mass.

The streaming service will be available on www.pope2you.net, www.pccs.va and www.vaticanradio.org and "allows anyone, anywhere in the world to follow the celebrations and guarantees fast connections," the statement said.

Benedict has emphasised the importance of social media communications during his pontificate, which began in 2005. The Vatican now has its own YouTube channel, a Facebook application called Pope2You and regular podcasts.