The Christmas tree and Nativity scene are symbols of God’s love and hope, reminding us to contemplate the beauty of creation and welcome the marginalised, Pope Francis has said.
Baby Jesus, whose parents could find no decent shelter and had to flee persecution, is a reminder of the “painful experience” of so many migrants today, he said last Friday, just before the Vatican Christmas tree was lit and its Nativity scene unveiled.
Nativity scenes everywhere were “an invitation to make room in our life and society for God – hidden in the gaze of so many people” who were living in need, poverty or suffering, he told those donating the tree and Nativity scene for St Peter’s Square.
The northern Italian province of Trent donated the 82ft-tall spruce fir, adorned with ceramic ornaments handmade by children receiving medical treatment at several Italian hospitals. The 55ft-wide Nativity scene was donated by the government and Archdiocese of Malta. It features 17 figures dressed in traditional Maltese attire and a replica of a Maltese boat to represent the seafaring traditions of the island.
The boat also represents “the sad and tragic reality of migrants on boats headed towards Italy,” the Pope said in his speech in the Vatican’s Paul VI hall. “In the painful experience of these brothers and sisters, we revisit that of baby Jesus, who at the time of his birth did not find accommodation and was born in a grotto in Bethlehem and then was brought to Egypt to escape Herod’s threat.”
The symbolic value of the Nativity scene is “a message of fraternity, sharing, welcoming and solidarity”, the Pope said.
Swiss bishop: no last rites for those seeking assisted suicide
A Swiss bishop has instructed Catholic priests not to give last rites to people who are seeking assisted suicide, following a sharp rise in the practice in his country.Bishop Vitus Huonder of Chur in a pastoral message for Human Rights Day, said: “It is increasingly difficult to take the right decisions in the face of death – there’s even a sense of helplessness.
“The readiness of a suffering patient to commit suicide with help from a bystander places any priest in an impossible situation if called to administer sacraments. Under such conditions, their reception is impossible – all a priest can do is offer a prayer of intercession and commend the dying to God’s mercy.”
Euthanasia is permitted under Swiss law, and has increased rapidly, according to a report by the newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung. It said that 999 euthanasia deaths were legally recorded in 2015, up 35 per cent from the previous year, adding that a “change of values in society” had made the practice “a new normality”.
But Bishop Huonder said: “Suicide, like murder, contradicts the divine world order.
