CathNews December 10 2018

Vatican unveils Nativity scene made of sand

The Vatican’s Christmas tree and Nativity scene in St Peter’s Square were unveiled in a ceremony on Friday. Source: CNS.

Hundreds of people in St Peter’s Square applauded as white curtains unfurled, revealing a16-metre wide artistic representation of Jesus’ birth made entirely of sand and dubbed the “Sand Nativity.”

The bas-relief sculpture, which weighed over 700 tons, was made with sand from Jesolo, an Italian seaside resort town north of Venice.

Shortly after, as the sun set behind St Peter’s Basilica, the sounds of Silent Night filled the square before the lights of the Vatican’s towering Christmas tree were lit.

The 23-metre-tall red spruce tree, donated by the Diocese of Concordia-Pordenone in the northern Italian region of Veneto, was unveiled at the Vatican’s annual tree lighting ceremony.

Among those present at the annual Christmas tree lighting were Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, president of the commission governing Vatican City State; Archbishop Francesco Moraglia, patriarch of Venice; and Bishop Giuseppe Pellegrini of Concordia-Pordenone.

The Sand Nativity scene and tree will remain in St Peter’s Square until the feast of the Baptism of the Lord on January 13.

Earlier in the day, Pope Francis met with delegations from the northern Italian regions of Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia, responsible respectively for the 2018 Vatican Christmas tree and Nativity scene.

Thanking the delegations for their gifts, the Pope said the Nativity scene and Christmas tree are visible signs that “help us to contemplate the mystery of God, who was made man in order to be close to us.”

The bright lights emanating from the Christmas tree, he explained, “remind us that Jesus is the light of the world, the light of the soul that drives out the darkness of enmity and makes room for forgiveness.”

The soaring height of the Christmas tree, he added, also symbolises “God who - through the birth of his son, Jesus - came down to man to raise him to himself and elevate him from the fog of selfishness and sin.”

Pope Francis also reflected on the unique composition of the Nativity scene. Sand, he said, is a poor material that “recalls the simplicity, the littleness and frailty with which God show himself through the birth of Jesus in the precariousness of Bethlehem.”

FULL STORY

Christmas spirit in the air as Vatican unveils Nativity scene, tree (CNS)

RELATED COVERAGE

“Sand Nativity” and Christmas tree of St. Peter’s Square unveiled (Vatican News)