Getty Pope Francis delivers his Christmas Day message from the central balcony of St Peter's Basilica
The Christmas Eve Mass in Vatican City is a holiday tradition — though it hasn’t actually taken place at midnight since 2008. But because of the time difference, it airs in the United States from 11:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. ET/PT on Christmas Eve on NBC.
If you don’t have cable, here’s how you can watch Christmas Eve Mass 2020 streaming online for free:
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FuboTV
You can watch a live stream of NBC (live in most markets) and 100-plus other TV channels on FuboTV, which you can use for free with a seven-day trial right here:
Once signed up for FuboTV, you can watch Christmas Eve Mass 2020 live on the FuboTV app, which is available on your Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV, or Firestick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV, Android TV, iPhone, Android phone, iPad, or Android tablet. Or you can watch on your computer via the FuboTV website.
If you can’t watch live, FuboTV comes with 250 hours of cloud DVR space, as well as a 72-hour look-back feature, which allows you to watch most new shows on-demand within three days (and sometimes longer) of their conclusion, even if you don’t record them.
Hulu With Live TV
You can watch a live stream of NBC (live in most markets) and 65+ other TV channels via Hulu With Live TV, which you can try out for free with a seven-day trial:
Once signed up for Hulu With Live TV, you can watch Christmas Eve Mass 2020 live on the Hulu app, which is available on your Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV, or Firestick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Samsung Smart TV, LG Smart TV, Android TV, iPhone, Android phone, iPad, or Android tablet. Or you can watch on your computer via the Hulu website.
If you can’t watch live, Hulu with Live TV comes with both its extensive on-demand library (which includes most shows after they air) and 50 hours of Cloud DVR storage (with the ability to upgrade to “Enhanced Cloud DVR,” which gives you 200 hours of DVR space and the ability to fast forward through commercials).
Sling TV
You can watch a live stream of NBC (live in select markets) and 40-plus other TV channels via Sling TV’s “Sling Blue” bundle. It comes with a free 3-day trial, but if you bypass that, you can get it for $20 for the first month (normally $30), and get Showtime, Starz and Epix included for free:
Once signed up for Sling TV, you can watch Christmas Eve Mass 2020 live on the Sling TV app, which is available on your Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV or Firestick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Xbox One, Samsung Smart TV, LG Smart TV, Android TV, airTV Mini, Oculus, Portal, iPhone, Android phone, iPad or Android tablet. Or you can watch on your computer via the Sling TV website.
If you can’t watch live, Sling TV comes included with 10 hours of cloud DVR.
Christmas Eve Mass 2020 Preview
The annual Christmas Eve Midnight Mass has aired on NBC for decades. But in Rome, it hasn’t taken place at midnight since 2008. In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI moved the mass to 10 p.m. and then in 2013, Pope Francis moved it to 9:30 p.m. local time. However, this year, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Italy has a 10 p.m. curfew and therefore Pope Francis announced earlier this year that the mass would be held at 7:30 p.m. local time so that attendees could be home before curfew.
However, the time difference means that NBC can air the mass at midnight. It starts at 11:30 p.m. and runs until 1 a.m. ET/PT. Ahead of the mass, the pope posted a message about the meaning of Christmas on the Vatican website. It reads:
Christmas invites us to reflect, on the one hand, on the drama of history, in which men and women, wounded by sin, ceaselessly search for truth, the search for mercy, and the search for redemption; and, on the other hand, on the goodness of God, who has come towards us to communicate to us the Truth that saves and to make us sharers in His friendship and His life. And this gift of life: this is pure grace, not by any merit of our own. There is a Holy Father who says: “But look there, over there, there: seek your merit and you will find nothing other than grace”. Everything is grace, a gift of grace.
And this gift of grace, we receive it through the simplicity and humanity of Christmas, and it can remove from our hearts and minds the pessimism that has spread even more nowadays as a result of the pandemic. We can overcome that sense of disquieting bewilderment, not letting ourselves be overwhelmed by defeats and failures, in the rediscovered awareness that that humble and poor Child, hidden away and helpless, is God Himself, made man for us.
The Second Vatican Council, in a famous passage from the Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, tells us that this event concerns every one of us: “For by His incarnation the Son of God has united Himself in some fashion with every man. He worked with human hands, He thought with a human heart, acted by human choice, and loved with a human heart. Born of the Virgin Mary, He has truly been made one of us, like us in all things except sin” (Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 22). But Jesus was born two thousand years ago, what does this have to do with me? It affects you, and me, each one of us. Jesus is one of us: God, in Jesus, is one of us.
The 2020 Christmas Eve Midnight Mass airs Thursday, December 24 from 11:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. ET/PT on NBC.