Text messages from the Pope are now available to Irish mobile phone users.
The service, provided by the Vatican Information Service, offering daily papal text messages has been extended from today to Irish customers.
A brief daily "thought of the day" from Pope John Paul II is delivered to mobile phone users at a cost of 20 cent a day.
The message is a prayer, passage from the bible or details from the lives of saints.
"The world needs a sign of hope from Christina families. May they be able to open their doors," is an extract from today's message.
The service was launched in Italy in January 2003 and has proved "popular especially among young people", according to a spokesman Fr Martin Clarke.
Fr Clarke was unable to predict the number of mobile phone owners who would subscribe to the service in Ireland.