diff --git a/phpBB/docs/CHANGELOG.html b/phpBB/docs/CHANGELOG.html
index 356987cd33..6011933082 100644
--- a/phpBB/docs/CHANGELOG.html
+++ b/phpBB/docs/CHANGELOG.html
@@ -219,6 +219,7 @@
 		<li>[Feature] Ability to empty a user's outbox from the user ACP quick tools.</li>
 		<li>[Feature] Ability to filter ACP / MCP logs</li>
 		<li>[Feature] Users can report PMs to moderators which are then visible in a new MCP module</li>
+		<li>[Feature] Parse email text files with the template engine.</li>
 	</ul>
 
 	<a name="v304"></a><h3>1.ii. Changes since 3.0.4</h3>
diff --git a/phpBB/includes/functions_messenger.php b/phpBB/includes/functions_messenger.php
index 4916ee41d7..2255b3dcb5 100644
--- a/phpBB/includes/functions_messenger.php
+++ b/phpBB/includes/functions_messenger.php
@@ -27,6 +27,8 @@ class messenger
 
 	var $mail_priority = MAIL_NORMAL_PRIORITY;
 	var $use_queue = true;
+
+	var $tpl_obj = NULL;
 	var $tpl_msg = array();
 	var $eol = "\n";
 
@@ -177,7 +179,7 @@ class messenger
 
 		if (!trim($template_file))
 		{
-			trigger_error('No template file set', E_USER_ERROR);
+			trigger_error('No template file for emailing set.', E_USER_ERROR);
 		}
 
 		if (!trim($template_lang))
@@ -185,25 +187,25 @@ class messenger
 			$template_lang = basename($config['default_lang']);
 		}
 
-		if (empty($this->tpl_msg[$template_lang . $template_file]))
+		// tpl_msg now holds a template object we can use to parse the template file
+		if (!isset($this->tpl_msg[$template_lang . $template_file]))
 		{
-			$tpl_file = (!empty($user->lang_path)) ? $user->lang_path : $phpbb_root_path . 'language/';
-			$tpl_file .= $template_lang . "/email/$template_file.txt";
+			$this->tpl_msg[$template_lang . $template_file] = new template();
+			$tpl = &$this->tpl_msg[$template_lang . $template_file];
 
-			if (!file_exists($tpl_file))
-			{
-				trigger_error("Could not find email template file [ $tpl_file ]", E_USER_ERROR);
-			}
+			$template_path = (!empty($user->lang_path)) ? $user->lang_path : $phpbb_root_path . 'language/';
+			$template_path .= $template_lang . '/email';
 
-			if (($data = @file_get_contents($tpl_file)) === false)
-			{
-				trigger_error("Failed opening template file [ $tpl_file ]", E_USER_ERROR);
-			}
+			$tpl->set_custom_template($template_path, $template_lang . '_email');
 
-			$this->tpl_msg[$template_lang . $template_file] = $data;
+			$tpl->set_filenames(array(
+				'body'		=> $template_file . '.txt',
+			));
 		}
 
-		$this->msg = $this->tpl_msg[$template_lang . $template_file];
+		$this->tpl_obj = &$this->tpl_msg[$template_lang . $template_file];
+		$this->vars = &$this->tpl_obj->_rootref;
+		$this->tpl_msg = '';
 
 		return true;
 	}
@@ -213,7 +215,22 @@ class messenger
 	*/
 	function assign_vars($vars)
 	{
-		$this->vars = (empty($this->vars)) ? $vars : $this->vars + $vars;
+		if (!is_object($this->tpl_obj))
+		{
+			return;
+		}
+
+		$this->tpl_obj->assign_vars($vars);
+	}
+
+	function assign_block_vars($blockname, $vars)
+	{
+		if (!is_object($this->tpl_obj))
+		{
+			return;
+		}
+
+		$this->tpl_obj->assign_block_vars($blockname, $vars);
 	}
 
 	/**
@@ -224,15 +241,29 @@ class messenger
 		global $config, $user;
 
 		// We add some standard variables we always use, no need to specify them always
-		$this->vars['U_BOARD'] = (!isset($this->vars['U_BOARD'])) ? generate_board_url() : $this->vars['U_BOARD'];
-		$this->vars['EMAIL_SIG'] = (!isset($this->vars['EMAIL_SIG'])) ? str_replace('<br />', "\n", "-- \n" . htmlspecialchars_decode($config['board_email_sig'])) : $this->vars['EMAIL_SIG'];
-		$this->vars['SITENAME'] = (!isset($this->vars['SITENAME'])) ? htmlspecialchars_decode($config['sitename']) : $this->vars['SITENAME'];
+		if (!isset($this->vars['U_BOARD']))
+		{
+			$this->assign_vars(array(
+				'U_BOARD'	=> generate_board_url(),
+			));
+		}
 
-		// Escape all quotes, else the eval will fail.
-		$this->msg = str_replace ("'", "\'", $this->msg);
-		$this->msg = preg_replace('#\{([a-z0-9\-_]*?)\}#is', "' . ((isset(\$this->vars['\\1'])) ? \$this->vars['\\1'] : '') . '", $this->msg);
+		if (!isset($this->vars['EMAIL_SIG']))
+		{
+			$this->assign_vars(array(
+				'EMAIL_SIG'	=> str_replace('<br />', "\n", "-- \n" . htmlspecialchars_decode($config['board_email_sig'])),
+			));
+		}
 
-		eval("\$this->msg = '$this->msg';");
+		if (!isset($this->vars['SITENAME']))
+		{
+			$this->assign_vars(array(
+				'SITENAME'	=> htmlspecialchars_decode($config['sitename']),
+			));
+		}
+
+		// Parse message through template
+		$this->msg = trim($this->tpl_obj->assign_display('body'));
 
 		// We now try and pull a subject from the email body ... if it exists,
 		// do this here because the subject may contain a variable