Pope inaugurates
Christmas creche at St. Peter's
VATICAN CITY, Dec. 24 (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday appeared at a window of his Vatican apartment to mark the unveiling of the traditional Christmas creche in St Peter's Square below.
About 1,000 people gathered in the famous piazza applauded as the pope lit a candle, symbol of peace.
Benedict's predecessor John Paul II began the tradition of setting up the creche in St Peter's Square in 1982 in a tribute to the rich Italian tradition of creche-building and the zeal and artistry involved.
Flanked by a giant Christmas tree, the illuminated structure 25 metres (yards) wide depicts the nativity of Jesus Christ, believed by Christians to be the son of God, whose birth is commemorated on Christmas Day.
Some of the figurines in this year's creche date from the mid-19th century.
The sundown event came a few hours before the Pontiff was to celebrate Christmas Eve mass in the basilica.
As children put on a pageant and the Vatican orchestra performed, a long line of pilgrims waited to enter the basilica for the mass.
In a Vatican first, the traditional "midnight mass" was to begin two hours early this year in view of Pope Benedict's advanced age of 82.
The Pope's own creche
The Nativity scene in the Pope's apartment this year is set in the market area of a 15th-century Roman neighborhood, and was the work of the Vatican florist service as usual. The statuettes are in plaster and terracotta.
Vatican newspaper to debut
as Sunday supplement to
Spanish paper La Razon
After the General Audience yesterday, executives of the Madrid-based Spanish newspaper
La Razon, were thanked by the Holy Father for being the first newspaper in Spain to carry the Spanish weekly edition of
L'Osservatore Romano as a free supplement to their Sunday issue, which has a present circulation of 200,000.
OR editor Giovanni Maria Vian (in photo, center) says this triples the OR's circulation overnight. At present, its daily edition and its weekly editions in seven languages have a total print order of 100,000.
The
La Razon project was suggested by the Spanish bishops' conference and favorably welcomed by the newspaper which is also undertaking the cost of printing the supplement.
The Spanish weekly OR was already the widest circulated of its foreign editions, since it has been carried in Peru since 1997, in Mexico since 1998, and in Argentina since 2005, but none with a major newspaper like La Razon.
Pope is presented formally
with the 'Alma Mater' CD
Other than a brief mention in the 12/24/09 OR that this took place, I have not seen any story with it. But the first three photographs from the OR catalog are rather unusual - they seem to show the Pope covering his face as if in mock dismay over something, as the persons around him enjoy a laugh.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 25/12/2009 01:16]