Bambinelli Sunday in St. Peter's Square

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis was scheduled to recite the Angelus for Gaudete Sunday, the third Sunday of Advent. A tradition has arisen in Rome, where children take to baby Jesus from their nativity scene to St. Peter’s Square to be blessed by the Pope.

This blessing forms the backdrop for the children’s book Bambinelli Sunday: A Christmas Blessing, by writer Amy Welborn and artist Ann Kissane Engelhart.

“Several years ago Pope Benedict had done the Angelus blessing with the children on this great day – Gaudete Sunday, Engelhart told Vatican Radio. “And it was a beautiful prayer, and I had seen these wonderful images of these kids holding these figures of Jesus – some of them tiny, some of them really quite large. It was just a really festive atmosphere, and we thought it would be a wonderful way to try and help the tradition spread outside of Rome.”

Bambinelli Sunday tells a story about a boy from Naples, whose family works in a small shop that sells figures for the famous Neapolitan presepe, or nativity scenes. In the story, he comes to Rome for the blessing.

“I also have always been fascinate with the precepe myself, since I was a child,” Engelhart said. “I thought it would be fun to bring these two great traditions together.”

Listen to the full interview by Charles Collins with Ann Kissane Engelhart: