Vatican Christmas tree and crib lit up

Nativity scene - image Vatican News

Source: Vatican News

The traditional lighting ceremony for the Christmas tree and Crib in St Peter's Square took place this evening. The event began at 5pm Rome time, with all those attending observing social distancing measures.

The tree this year is a 30-metre-high Norwegian spruce from southern Slovenia. It will remain until 10 January 2021 and will be shown on the Vatican media's live stream 24 hours a day. 24-hour live feed of Vatican Media on YouTube. www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCDr9ft0Ym4

This year's Nativity scene, comes from Castelli in Italy's Abruzzo region. The larger than life sized statues of the Holy Family, are ceramic.

There is another bronze sculpture nearby: Angels Unawares, the bronze sculpture by Timothy Schmalz, which depicts a boatful of migrants and refugees The piece was installed in the Square on 29 September 2019 under the patronage of the Vatican's Migrants and Refugees Section. ( See www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2019-09/pope-francis-world-day-migrants-refugees-sculpture.html )

In a statement the Vatican said the sculpture highlights the deeper meaning of Christmas - recalling that Jesus, with Mary and Joseph, was also a migrant, fleeing for his life.

Tonight's evening ceremony was attended by Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello and Bishop Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, as well as official delegations from the areas which donated the tree and creche.

As Pope Francis told the Slovenian and Italian delegates earlier this morning, these "icons of Christmas" are now, more than ever, "a sign of hope for the people of Rome and for those pilgrims who will have the opportunity to come and admire them."