The Pope receives in audience in the Vatican the approximately one thousand participants of the living nativity scene which today, 13 December, parades along Via Merulana, in Rome, up to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore: be bearers of consolation and inspiration for all
Daniele Piccini – Vatican City
The nativity scene is “the custom of depicting the Nativity of the Lord in the most diverse ways”, a representation “often with the features of one’s own culture and with the landscapes of one’s own land” of the “Mystery of the Incarnation”. This makes it “an important sign: it reminds us that we are part of a wonderful adventure of Salvation in which we are never alone”.
Spread this message and keep this tradition alive. They are a gift of light for our world which so much needs to be able to continue to hope.
This is the hope with which Leo
The depictions of Joseph, Mary and Baby Jesus. (@Vatican Media)
Pilgrimage to the cradle of the Savior
The participants in the living representation of the Birth of Jesus, as highlighted by the Pontiff in his greeting speech, celebrate their Jubilee today. At 11.30 they cross the Holy Door of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, paying homage to the tomb of Pope Francis. Then at 12 they participate in the Mass presided over by Cardinal Rolandas Makrickas, archpriest of the Marian Basilica, the “Bethlehem of the West”. At 3pm they give life to the procession of the Living Nativity Scene, starting from the Church of Perpetuo Soccorso in via Merulana 26 and at 5.30pm, having reached Santa Maria Maggiore, they venerate the relic of the Sacred Cradle, the manger in which, according to tradition, the newborn Baby Jesus was placed.
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“It was precisely that ancient relic which, together with the journey to the Holy Land, inspired Saint Francis, in 1223, to celebrate for the first time the ‘Christmas of Greccio‘, the beginning of the tradition of the Nativity scene”, recalls Leo XIV.
Pope Leo XIV shakes hands with a Roman centurion, featured in the living nativity scene of Santa Maria Maggiore. ” title=”Pope Leo XIV shakes hands with a Roman centurion, featured in the living nativity scene of Santa Maria Maggiore. “/>Pope Leo XIV shakes hands with a Roman centurion, featured in the living nativity scene of Santa Maria Maggiore. (@Vatican Media)
An “unarmed and disarming” coming
The Nativity of the Savior is a message in itself, already due to the ways in which it happens. God, explains the Pope, citing a catechesis by Benedict XVI from December 2009, “comes without weapons, without force, to overcome pride, violence, man’s desire for possession, and lead us to our true identity”. Contemplating the nativity scene is therefore a form of conversion since we enter into an authentic experience of knowledge of Christ and his ways: “As we contemplate the Christmas scene, we are invited to set out spiritually on a journey, attracted by the humility of Him who became man to meet every man”, adds Leo XIV quoting the Apostolic Letter An admirable sign of Pope Francis.
It’s exactly like this: from the Bethlehem cave, where Mary, Joseph and the Child are in their disarming poverty, we set off again to begin a new life in the footsteps of Christ. You will witness it in the afternoon, with the procession that will wind through the streets of the city.
Whoever takes part in the representation of a living Nativity scene is therefore a torchbearer, a bearer of light.
[Il corteo]with its choreographies, costumes and music, will be a joyful sign of how beautiful it is to be disciples of Jesus, the God made man, the sun that rises “to shine on those who are in darkness and in the shadow of death, and direct our steps on the path of peace”. (Lk, 1,79)
The figures of the living nativity scene of Santa Maria Maggiore received in audience by the Pope in the Hall of Blessing. (@Vatican Media)
Console and inspire
Hence the mission that the Pope entrusts to figures and nativity scene artists, which does not end in the duration of a Christmas procession, but must be carried out in everyday life and bear fruit.
This makes you pilgrims of hope, bearers of consolation and inspiration for all those you meet: for the small and the large, for the families, the young and the elderly who you will find on your journey; for those who rejoice and for those who suffer, for those who are alone, for those who feel the desire to love and be loved alive in their hearts and for those who, even with difficulty, continue to work with commitment and perseverance to build a better world.
Leo XIV, after thanking the figures and nativity scene artists “for their commitment”, blessed them, wishing them “Merry Christmas”.
