Pope thanks donors of Christmas tree

December 14, 2012 - When man wanted to turn off the light enkindled by the birth of Jesus, symbolized in the Christmas tree, what resulted was a darkness of horrors. Pope Benedict XVI made the remark on Friday while thanking some 440 delegates of the small Italian town of Pescopernnataro of Molise region, for their gift of this year’s 24-meter tall Christmas tree standing next to the Nativity scene in St. Peter’s Square. In his address to the delegation the Pope recalled how through various ages when men tried to stamp out the light of God and instead flashed illusory and deceptive lights, there followed periods marked by tragic violence against man. Beautiful and noble words such as ‘liberty’, “common good,” and “justice” when deprived of their roots in God and His love, often become hostage to human interests and lose their lifeline of truth and civil responsibility. However, the Pope said, no one has succeeded in smothering the history of the light of love kindled 2000 year ago in Bethlehem. This light high above, symbolized by the Christmas tree, the Pope said, has not dimmed with the passing of centuries and millennia, but continues to shine on us and illuminate every man, especially in moments of uncertainty and difficulty. Later at a traditional ceremony Friday evening the lights of the lights of the giant white spruce were switched on.