Citing the Vatican's pledge in UN climate treaties to curb carbon emissions, Francis tasked a commission of Vatican officials with developing the solar farm at Santa Maria di Galeria. In a decree, he said the solar energy generated would sufficiently fuel the radio operations there and the Vatican City State itself.

The 430-hectare (1,063-acre) Santa Maria di Galeria site, which enjoys extraterritorial status, was inaugurated in 1957 as a base for Vatican Radio. At the time, the pope's broadcaster transmitted Catholic and Vatican news in dozens of languages worldwide via two dozen short- and medium-wave radio antennae crowding the landscape.

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The web radio, debuting Feb. 12, will make Vatican Radio broadcasts available over the internet in English, Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, and Armenian.

The broadcasts will also be available via the Radio Vaticana app. Vatican Radio already transmits via radio waves, shortwave, satellite, DAB+, and digitally.

Vatican Radio will also launch a "reworked" website on Friday, according to Vatican News.

Vatican Radio was established by Pope Pius XI on Feb. 12, 1931. The Italian inventor and electrical engineer Guglielmo Marconi designed and built the radio.

The first transmission was sent in Morse code: the words "In nomine Domini, Amen," Latin for "in the name of the Lord, Amen." Then, after a brief introduction by Marconi, Pope Pius XI gave the first papal message by radio, delivered in Latin.

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The first five-minute bulletin will be broadcast on Vatican Radio on Saturday, becoming a regular weekly event. Continue reading

Other communication forms will step up to replace it. Social media will form a big part of the new news service.

The Jesuit-managed mainly short-wave radio broadcasts are translated into many languages.

The station runs at an annual deficit of €20- 30 million a year. Read more

The Archbishop of Wellington told Vatican Radio that what is happening is very different from a synod on the Eucharist nine years ago.

" . . . I talked [then] about the possibility of Communion for the divorced and remarried, and got a lot of criticism, and now at this synod, it is being spoken about openly, by many, many people."

He said Pope Francis's invitation to synod members to speak boldly and not to be afraid is creating a new dynamic.

The fact that topics like Communion for the divorced and remarried are even being discussed is giving people hope, the archbishop said.

But he dampened down any prospects of overnight changes flowing from the synod, saying there is a long way to go.

In an intervention last week, Archbishop Dew pressed for recognition that people come to moral perfection gradually.

This concept was mentioned St John Paul II's Familiaris Consortio, the archbishop said.

"So what do we do to help people on this journey to God and particularly help people who are often in very difficult and complex family situations?" Archbishop Dew said on Vatican Radio.

In his intervention, he said some of the language used in Church documents - terms like "intrinsically evil", "irregular situation" and "abortive mentality" - don't help this process.

"[I] said we need to find a language that still speaks the truth of the Gospel and the truth of the doctrine, but makes it in such a way that it is not all about rules and sanctions, but it is about helping people find their way to God."

Archbishop Dew is writing a daily blog about his synod experience.

An audio of his interview with Vatican Radio can be accessed here.

Sources

• Vatican Radio
• NZCBC
• Chicago Tribune
• Image: The Record

"It happened, but we have no comment to make on it," the Vatican spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, said.

The Anonymous hacker collective claimed responsibility for the attack Monday, which cut off access to the Vatican website www.vatican.va for several hours and violated data on the Vatican Radio computer system.

Anonymous said the incursion into the Vatican Radio system was justified by the fact that the radio's powerful transmitters sited in the countryside outside Rome constituted a health risk to people living in the vicinity.

The foundation helps women in Africa, the Middle East and South Asia to play an increasingly important role in their economies. She believes that through the use of internet and mobile technology women can generate their own income.

Blair said that the focus on women was "a no-brainer". She explained that research shows investment in women pays dividends. Yet on the ground women are still struggling to gain equality with men. 75% of the poor of the world are women and girls, and so if we are to work with the poor of the world, then we have to work with women. The World Bank has shown that for every $1 invested in a woman, she will invest 90% of that in her family and her community. The equivalent figure for men is 30-40%.

Blair was taken by the African proverb African proverb - "If you educate a boy, you educate an individual, if you educate a girl you educate a community". She saw this as reflecting the pivotal role that women have in their communities.

However, Blair reinforced the Church's teaching about the complementary skills of women and men working together.

She also reflected on the history of Church as being instrumental in bringing education to girls around the world - particularly by the remarkable missionary women in the 19th cent who left their families behind, with a mission to bring the Word of God to women in a practical way through education and health care in the community.

Her foundation encourages partnerships with mobile technology firms. She wants to find good programmes and ideas, and use technology such as a mobile phone - which acts as a poor person's computer. It then allows them a window onto the world. She remarked that of 5 billion mobile users, 75% are from the developing world.

A phone can provide information about local prices, where the best places are to sell goods, or buy seeds - and allows people to make payments, to contact customers, get information to improve their business and agriculture practices. Thus it is a $13 billion opportunity for mobile technology firms to reach women who do not yet have them.

Full interview: Vatican Radio