Vatican City, Dec 16, 2011 / 15:20 pm
As dark fell over St. Peter’s Square on Dec. 16, a young Ukrainian boy switched on the lights for the Vatican’s Christmas tree, a 98-foot spruce donated by his homeland.
The tree is “a significant symbol of Christ’s nativity because, with its evergreen boughs, it reminds us of enduring life,” said Pope Benedict XVI at a meeting earlier in the day with a group of Ukrainian bishops – Catholic and Orthodox – that oversaw this evening’s ceremony.
“The spruce is also a sign of popular religiosity in your country,” he told them, “and of the Christian roots of your culture. My hope is that these roots may increasingly reinforce your national unity, favoring the promotion of authentic shared values.”
The tree is decorated with 2,500 silver and gold ornaments and topped with a bright star. This evening’s lighting ceremony combined traditional folk music from the Ukraine, provided by a youth choir in national costume, with operatic Italian music played by the Vatican’s Gendarmerie band.
The thousand-strong crowd seemed to be equally Ukrainian and Italian, with many blue and yellow Ukrainian flags in evidence.