Vatican City, the world's smallest country, will begin airing its considerable global TV content in HD starting on Sunday (of course), April 15, according to the Vatican press office.

The mostly walled nation-state totally surrounded by the city of Rome controls the mostly family-oriented religious broadcasts of Vatican TV, which are fed worldwide via DBS, cable and in syndication in scores of languages, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

However, the Vatican said it has no current plans to abandon any of its TV infrastructures that currently include providing programming via terrestrial analog signals--the technology that will continue to be the primary scheme in many developing countries for several years to come. Beginning the week after Easter, some Vatican HD programming will be simulcast with its analog feeds.

April 15, besides falling on a Sunday, was also chosen as the HD launch date because it is the 80th birthday of Pope Benedict XVI.

Next-gen technology is not new to the Vatican. It put up its first Web site more than 11 years ago under Pope John Paul II, and in the early 20th century it began broadcasting radio signals when receivers were still hard to find in Italy or anywhere else.