Vatican to launch Internet news portal next week

(AP) -- The Vatican is taking a leap into the world of new media next week with the launch of a news information portal that Pope Benedict XVI himself may put online with a papal click.

Vatican officials said Saturday that Benedict has been following the development of the portal - http://www.news.va - which will for the first time aggregate information from the Vatican's various print, radio and television media in a one-stop-shop for Holy See news.

The portal is being launched Wednesday, the 60th anniversary of Benedict's ordination as a priest. Monsignor Claudio Maria Celli, who heads the Vatican office that developed the portal, said Benedict may put the site online himself with a click from the Apostolic Palace.

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