Vatican’s Quiet Christmas but it is big in spirit

(December 11, 2010) Christmas celebration at the Vatican is truly unique. Cranes erect an enormous evergreen alongside the granite obelisk in St. Peter's Square and workers are decorating the Christmas tree with lights, ornaments and tinsel. This year's tree is decorated with 3,000 gold and silver balls, and 1,500 white and yellow LED lights, which have lower energy consumption and greater durability. The tree will be topped with a flashing star. Construction of the larger-than-life nativity scene takes weeks as special artistic crib is being prepared to be unveiled on Christmas Eve. But even further from the public eye are the holiday traditions of the papal household. While Pope John Paul II had close to an open-house attitude, Pope Benedict XVI is much more discreet. In addition to the public events, Pope Benedict celebrates Christmas privately with the members of his papal household. "We celebrate Christmas together, listen to the holiday music, and exchange gifts," he said in the recent book-length interview "Light of the World." The close-knit papal family includes Pope Benedict's two secretaries and a small group of women from the Memores Domini lay community who care for the papal apartment. Unfortunately, this holiday season is marked with the loss of one of the pope's close collaborators, Manuela Camagni, who died Nov. 24 after she was struck by a car.