This morning, in Paul VI Hall, the Holy Father Francis received in Audience the Delegations for the gift of the Nativity Scene and the Christmas Tree installed in St. Peter’s Square.
In his address to the delegations, Pope Francis highlighted the significance of the Christmas tree and the crib as symbols of hope and peace. The tree, he said, is a sign of life and rebirth, while the crib represents the birth of Jesus, the Saviour of the world.
The Pope also stressed the importance of humility and simplicity in the celebration of Christmas. He recalled that Jesus was born in a manger, among the poor and humble. For this reason, he said, Christmas is an opportunity to remember those who suffer most and to work for a more just and equitable world.
In particular, the Pope referred to the current situation in the world, marked by war, poverty and injustice. In this context, he said, the Christmas tree and the crib are a message of hope and peace. They are a reminder that God’s love always conquers evil.
We publish below the speech that the Pope addressed to those present during the Audience:
Address of the Holy Father
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
I welcome you with joy on the day in which the tree and the Nativity display decorating Saint Peter’s Square and this hall are officially donated and inaugurated.
I greet the delegation from Rieti, the area where the representations of the Nativity display were produced, and that of the municipality of Macra, in the province of Cuneo, from which, precisely from the Maira Valley, comes the silver fir tree chosen as the Christmas tree. I greet the civil and ecclesiastical authorities, in particular the bishops of Rieti and Saluzzo and the President of the Piedmont Region, and all of you, priests and faithful gathered here.
The Nativity display set up in Saint Peter’s Square aims to evoke, after eight hundred years, the Christmas atmosphere of the year 1223 in the Rieti Valley, where Saint Francis stopped. His journey to the Holy Land was still vivid in his mind and the caves of Greccio reminded him of the landscape of Bethlehem. Therefore, he asked to depict the Christmas scene in that small village: many friars arrived from various parts and men and women also came from the cottages in the area, creating a living nativity scene. Thus, the tradition of the nativity scene as we understand it was born.
This year, then, from Saint Peter’s Square we will think of Greccio, which in turn takes us back to Bethlehem. And as we contemplate Jesus, God made man, small, poor, defenceless, we cannot but think of the tragedy that the inhabitants of the Holy Land are living, expressing to those brothers and sisters of ours, especially the children and their parents, our closeness and our spiritual support. They are the ones who pay the true price of war.
Before any Nativity display, even those we make in our own homes, we relive what happened in Bethlehem more than two thousand years ago; and this should reawaken in us a longing for silence and prayer, in our often so hectic daily lives. Silence, so as to be able to listen to what Jesus tells us from the unique “cathedra” of the manger. Prayer, to express grateful wonder, tenderness, perhaps the tears that the Nativity scene stirs in us. And in all this, there is the model of Mary: she says nothing, but contemplates and adores.
In the Square, next to the Nativity display, there is the tree, whose lights will be lit at the end of the ceremony this evening. It is adorned with Edelweiss flowers cultivated on the plain, to protect those that grow in the high mountains. This too is a choice that makes us reflect, highlighting the importance of care for our common home: small gestures are essential in ecological conversion, gestures of respect and gratitude for God’s gifts.
Dear brothers and sisters, thank you to all of you, as well as to the Infrastructure and Services Directorate of the Governorate, for the creative and generous effort with which you have carried out this initiative. I bless you, your families and your fellow citizens from my heart. And please, do not forget to pray for me. Thank you!
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Holy See Press Office Bulletin, 9 December 2023
