Webcam in St Peter's Follows Christmas Preparations

(12 Dec 08 - RV) Getting into the festive spirit, Pope Benedict XVI today received a delegation from the Austrian region that donated this years Vatican Christmas tree.

1,000 pilgrims led by provincial governor, Erwin Proll, accompanied the 108-foot-tall 120 year old tree to its final destination. The heart of St Peter’s square.

It took the Vatican’s team of dedicated carpenters a week to hall the Norway spruce into place, secure it to the giant granite and marble obelisk and then clamber among its branches to adorn its heights with over 2,000 ornaments. The great tree was donated along with 40 smaller trees to bring a little Christmas cheer to the Paul VI and Clementine Halls, the Pope’s own apartments and other curia offices.

Receiving the group Friday, Pope Benedict described the tree, and the nativity scene cradled beneath its lights, but still rigorously concealed from the public, as “symbols of life”, that bring all those who gaze upon them back to the mystery of Christmas Eve, when the cold and dark world was illuminated by the peace of Christ”.

But the tree will remain in the dark until Saturday afternoon when, Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo, president of the Governorate of Vatican City State, will flick the switch setting ablaze some 1,500 Christmas lights.

And waste not want not seems to be the motto of Christmas this year at the Vatican. The tree will be recycled after the Christmas festivities into wooden toys and children's furniture, which will be decorated by a group of Italian children.

But decorations in St. Peter's Square will only be completed on Christmas Eve with the unveiling of the nativity scene. The setting for this year's crib scene is the outskirts of Bethlehem, as emphasized by a watchtower, a large gateway and humble dwellings stretching along the "walls of Bethlehem."

Anyone can follow the progress of Christmas preparations in St Peter’s square by checking out the webcams the Vatican has focused on St. Peter’s Square from the cupola of St. Peter’s Basilica and from the top of the colonnade surrounding the square, by simply clicking on www.vaticanstate.va .