The “100 Nativity scenes of the Vatican” in the open air between the columns of Bernini

Michele Raviart – Vatican City

The difficulties and limits due to the pandemic should not prevent us from living Christmas “as a moment of joy” and the birth of the Son of God “as a moment of hope to look to the future with the necessary serenity”. For this reason, the 2020 edition of the traditional exhibition “100 Nativity scenes in the Vatican” will continue to take place, but in the open air, “united in the beauty of Bernini’s colonnade” in St. Peter’s Square. From Sunday December 13 to Sunday January 10, 2021, a statement from the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization, which oversaw the initiative, reads: “Everyone will be able to pause to admire the beauty of so many nativity scenes in different parts of the world. world. world, and understand how much love and imagination went into making the crib. “

Christmas is not a parenthesis

“During these Christmas holidays,” the statement continued, “it would not make sense to look elsewhere, with indifference, as if the dramatic moment that the whole world is experiencing did not exist”. Faith, in fact, “requires looking at reality and making sense of what is happening in personal and human history” and “living Christmas as a parenthesis would not explain the meaning it has for faith. “.

The mystery of God becoming man

As the Pope writes, in fact “the manger makes us see, makes us touch this unique and extraordinary event which changed the course of history” and in this sense, notes the declaration, the “simplicity of the scene described “in the manger he can help people who stop at the different mansions to grasp the deep meaning of the Mystery of God becoming man. Thought and affection for their own families and friends involved in the suffering of the pandemic “extends” to gather the faces of the many doctors and nurses who, every day, remain close to the sick and bring them relief, desires. many hospital chaplains who also give comfort on behalf of those who cannot access the wards. “Not to mention the gratitude to the men and women of science who give their experiments no respite to achieve results that can finally turn the curve of the pandemic and win it.”

A family celebration

Christmas, as Saint Augustine had captured it, is then “the light that comes into the world to dispel the darkness of evil”. For this reason and not because of the details on the exact time of the birth of Jesus absent in the text of the Gospel, the declaration says: “the Church wanted to live this same way with the liturgy celebrating the Holy Eucharist the last. night”. Secular traditions, such as representing the nativity scene in their churches and experiencing Christmas as a “family celebration”, lived in the family. However, this Christmas “many families will sadly experience the loss of loved ones as the pandemic began in dramatic fashion and often with forms of violence and inhumanity without even allowing them to be near them for a final farewell” . Many other families will have their thoughts fixed on family members in the hospital who are forced to be alone these days. Worry and worry about their fate will be at the center of their thoughts as they try to send a sign of love and affection. “Even” to build a small nursery in our houses “, in this case,” will be a plus sign to maintain at this stage, the joy of transmitting a family tradition to the younger generations “.

Visiting hours

The visit of the “100 Nativity scenes of the Vatican” will be free and possible every day from 10 am to 8 pm (last entry at 7.45 pm), except on December 25 and 31 which will be from 10 am to 5 pm. This year the event will be hosted by the Ukrainian Embassy to the Holy See, which will be present with an official delegation accompanied by a representative of the Ukrainian community in Rome.