[web2py] How to display a multi-line string variable properly?

[Luis Goncalves]

I have a string variable, message_body,  which is multiline (has
newlines or \n characters).

How do I get it to display properly in an HTML view?

simply using  {{=message_body}}  displays the text all on the same
line, ignoring the carriage returns.

{{=TEXTAREA(message_body)}} displays properly, but is ugly (unless I
can control the number of lines to fit tightly, and make the are non-
editable).

Thanks in advance!

Luis.