This year's Vatican Christmas tree has ornaments handmade by the homeless

Reaching a height of nearly 100 feet, the Christmas tree in St. Peter's Square this year is adorned with wooden ornaments handmade by the homeless, as well as children and other adults.

Before the Christmas tree lighting ceremony on December 11, Pope Francis said he wanted the Christmas tree and the nativity scene in St. Peter's Square to be "a sign of hope" in a year marked by the coronavirus pandemic .

"The tree and the crib help to create the favorable Christmas atmosphere for living the mystery of the Redeemer's birth with faith," said the pope.

"In the nativity everything speaks of 'good poverty', evangelical poverty, which makes us blessed: contemplating the Holy Family and the various characters, we are attracted by their disarming humility".

The imposing spruce of St. Peter's Square is a gift from Slovenia, a Central European country with a population of two million, which has also donated 40 smaller trees to be placed in Vatican City offices.

Jakob Štunf, Slovenia's ambassador to the Holy See, told EWTN News that Slovenia is also sponsoring a Christmas lunch at the homeless shelter near the Vatican.

“We also decided to donate a special tree… to the facility for the homeless, which is located next to St. Peter's Square. We will also provide them with some sort of special meal for that day, so we can also express our bond with them in this way, ”the ambassador said.

The homeless have also been involved in making some ornaments for the Vatican Christmas tree, according to Sabina Šegula, a Vatican florist and decorator.

Šegula helped train 400 people to help make this year's straw and wood ornaments using educational videos due to the pandemic.

He said most of the ornaments were made by people in Slovenia, including some young children, but homeless people in Rome and Slovenia were also involved in the crafts.

“They really enjoyed their labs, so they created their own projects,” Šegula told EWTN.

"And that was the main goal: to also bring joy and Christmas spirit to the home of the homeless in Rome," he said.

Slovenia donated the Christmas tree as a symbol of gratitude for the Vatican's support for the country's independence movement on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of Slovenia's independence from Yugoslavia.

“John Paul II… understood very well the situation at that time, what was happening, not only in Slovenia or in Yugoslavia at that time, but also in Europe. So he understood the big changes taking place and was really personal, very involved and committed to the process, ”said Štunf.

“Slovenia is actually recognized as one of the greenest countries in the world. … More than 60% of the Slovenian territory is covered with forests, ”he said, adding that this tree could be considered a gift from the“ green heart of Europe ”.

The Kočevje Slovenian Forest Tree is 75 years old, weighs 70 tons and is 30 meters high.

It started on 11 December with a ceremony presided over by Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello and Bishop Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, respectively president and general secretary of the governorate of the Vatican City State. This year's Vatican nativity scene was also unveiled at the ceremony.

The nativity scene is composed of 19 life-size ceramic statues made in the 60s and 70s by teachers and former students of an art institute in the Italian region of Abruzzo.

Among the statues is the figure of an astronaut, which was added to the nativity at the time it was created to celebrate the 1969 moon landing, Alessia Di Stefano, local tourism minister, told EWTN.

In recent years, the Vatican nativity scene has been made with different materials, from traditional Neapolitan figures to sand.

A more traditional Italian nativity scene with moving figures is also on display in the baptistery chapel of St. Peter's Basilica. The angels painted from the large mosaic in the chapel of Jesus' baptism in the Jordan River appear to hover above the scene's wooden manger, which is surrounded by poinsettias and a long line of kneelers for pilgrims wishing to contemplate the nativity in prayer.

“Angels Unawares”, the image of the Holy Family in the sculpture of migrants in St. Peter's Square, was also illuminated for the first time for the period of Advent and Christmas.

Both the tree and the cribs will be exhibited until 10 January 2021, the feast of the Baptism of the Lord.

On Friday, Pope Francis met with a delegation from Slovenia and the Italian region of Abruzzo involved in the organization of this year's Christmas events in St. Peter's Square.

"The feast of Christmas reminds us that Jesus is our peace, our joy, our strength, our comfort," said the Pope.

“But, to welcome these gifts of grace, we must feel small, poor and humble like the characters of the nativity”.

“I offer you my best wishes for a hopeful Christmas party and I ask you to bring them to your families and to all your fellow citizens. I assure you of my prayers and I bless you. And you too, please, pray for me. Merry Christmas."