The Christmas decorations, remaining on display in St. Peter’s Square until the conclusion of the Christmas season on January 9, 2022, are aimed to celebrate the diversity in the Universal call to Holiness.
Newsroom (11/12/2021 14:30, Gaudium Press) With a ceremony presided over by the new president of the Governorate of the Vatican City State, Archbishop Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, the Vatican inaugurated on Friday, December 10, the nativity scene and Christmas tree installed in the center of St. Peter’s Square.
The event ended up being held in the Paul VI Hall, due to unfavorable weather conditions. The Christmas decoration will remain on display to the public until the end of the liturgical season of Christmas, which will end on Sunday, January 9, 2022, Feast of the Baptism of the Lord.
Europe and America unite in honor of the King of Kings
When speaking about this year’s nativity scene, which is an original work from an Andean community in Peru, and the Christmas tree from northern Italy, Archbishop Fernando Vérgez Alzaga pointed out that “in this way Europe and America unite in homage to the King of Kings, a kind of homage to receive the Child Jesus.“
The prelate also stated that “the work of Peruvian artisans together with volunteers from northern Italy unite in an act of veneration and affection for the Child Jesus. Time, energy, and resources are offered to the Lord.”
The Christmas Tree Lighting
Then Bishop Vérgez Alzaga spoke about the lighting of the Christmas tree, stressing that “the light that will illuminate St. Peter’s Square will be like a beacon to attract the attention of many pilgrims and tourists who will pass by here. It will be the light that will favor the encounter between the faithful and Jesus, between the representation of the birth of the Child Jesus, surrounded by Mary and Joseph, and the rush of people in their daily lives.”
Finally, he stressed that the diversity of cultures and languages expresses the universal call to holiness because the Son of God is incarnated in every social context. Christ’s coming “happened once, but it is renewed and perpetuated throughout the centuries for every creature as if he were born only for each one of us. I wish you all a Holy Christmas, with the hope that the Child Jesus will illuminate your daily path,” he concluded. (EPC)
