BOSTON (AP) – Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley, who already has his own blog, is helping bring the Roman Catholic church deeper into the 21st century by offering downloadable Christmas video messages in three languages.

The messages in English, Spanish and Portuguese, will be available Christmas Eve at Boston Catholic Television’s revamped Web site, and will be the first of regular video messages from O’Malley available for downloading from the Internet in the new year.

The video messages are part of a broader effort by the Boston Archdiocese to embrace new technology and spread the church’s message.

The archdiocese is overhauling its newspaper and television Web sites; has assigned e-mail addresses to all priests, a handful of whom have resisted using computers; and has created an intranet site that officials expect will replace the monthly mailings to clergy.

O’Malley, a Capuchin Franciscan friar who has taken a vow of poverty and is a frequent critic of consumer culture, is emerging as an unlikely pioneer in the use of new technology.

The Catholic church is generally seen as being behind the curve when it comes to new media and technology.

There has been some resistance to technology in Catholic churches “because it distances you from the personal experience of the liturgy,” said the Rev. John F. Baldovin, a specialist on Catholic liturgy.

Cardinalseansblog.org, the cardinal’s Web log, is considered a hit by archdiocesan officials, who say they are getting positive feedback from around the world.

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Information from: The Boston Globe, http://www.boston.com/globe