Christmas Comes to the Vatican

(18 Dec 09 - RV) With only one week to go to Christmas, many homes around the world have long been adorned with Christmas trees and Nativity Scenes. Friday evening, twighlight, in St. Peter's Square the ceremony for the lighting of the Vatican's Christmas Tree will be held. This year it has been gifted by the people of Belgium.

Friday morning Pope Benedict XVI met with a delegation from Wallonia to thank them for their gift, a spruce more than 100 years old, 30 meters high and weighing 14 tonnes.

It comes from the forests of the Ardennes in Wallonia, one of the greenest regions across Europe. It comes from the harvest of trees that must be felled for the sake of thinning. With its wood sculptures will be created to raise funds for the poor.

Speaking to the delegation the the Pope recalled that in the forest trees grow close, creating a shady, sometimes obscure, place. But he added; "the fir tree in St Peter’s Square is now festooned with bright decorations that are like so many wonderful fruits". "Leaving off its dark vestiges it becomes the bearer of a light that is not its own, but which bears witness to the true light that comes into this world."

“We too - continued the Pope - " are called to bear good fruit as evidence that the world really was visited and redeemed by the Lord."

"The role of this tree", concluded the Pope, "is similar to that of the shepherds who, watching through the shades of night, saw how the darkness was illuminated with the message of the angels. ... Standing next to the nativity scene the tree indicates, in its own particular way, the great mystery present in the poor and simple grotto. It proclaims the arrival of the Son of God to the inhabitants of Rome, to pilgrims and to everyone who sees St. Peter's Square on television. Though this tree your land, and the faith of the Christian communities in your region, greet the Christ Child".


Situated next to the Nativity Scene in St Peter's Square "this tree shows, in its own way, the presence of the great mystery revealed in poverty in Bethlehem" by inviting all to accept "the Child-God, the One who came to renew all things and to call all creatures, from the humblest to the greatest, to enter into the mystery of Redemption. "