Vatican Lights up Tree in St. Peter's

(December 18, 2010) St. Peter's Square got a little brighter Friday when a 93-year old, 100-foot-tall Norway spruce was placed next to the nativity scene and illuminated with yellow and white lights. The lighting ceremony took place in the evening, presided over by Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo, president of the Governorate of Vatican City State. Earlier in the day, Pope Benedict XVI received in audience a delegation of pilgrims from Luson, in the Diocese of Bolzano-Bressanone, who donated the tall spruce to the Vatican, as well as some other 50 trees, which will be placed in various areas of the Vatican. The Pope was impressed that the tree was taken from the part of the immense Dolomites that presents extraordinary beauty of the scenery which invites us to recognize the greatness of our Creator, whose love shines incessantly in his wonderful work of nature and also illuminates man's heart and fills it with peace and joy. Reflecting on the symbolic value of the Christmas tree, the Pope said that it, together with the nativity scene, offers a message of fraternity and friendship and is an invitation to unity and peace. It is an invitation to make room, in our life and in society, for God, who offers us his omnipotent love through the fragile figure of a Child, because he wants us to respond freely to his love with our own love. "Therefore," Pope Benedict XVI continued, "the Nativity and the tree bring a message of hope and love, and help to create the propitious climate to live, in the correct spiritual and religious dimension, the mystery of the birth of the Redeemer."