VATICAN CITY — When St. Francis of Assisi staged the first Nativity scene 800 years ago, he did so to remind people of the powerful, awe-inspiring truth that God became human in Jesus, Pope Francis said.
Nativity scenes are not simply works of art or folk art, the pope told hundreds of people involved in staging a live Nativity scene at the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome Dec. 16.
Dressed as angels, shepherds, the Holy Family and the townspeople of Bethlehem 2,000 years ago, the amateur actors met Pope Francis in the Vatican audience hall just a few hours before their performance began.
When St. Francis staged a similar living Nativity in 1223, the pope said, he wanted “to represent in life the birth of Jesus to inspire in friars and in the people emotion and tenderness toward the mystery of God born of Mary in a stable and laid in a manger.”
The live setting, he said, was designed “to give substance to the representation -- not a painting, not statues, but people in flesh and blood, in order to highlight the reality of the Incarnation.”
As St. Francis knew, “the purpose of the living Nativity scene is to reawaken wonder in the heart before the mystery of God who became a child.”
Pope Francis said that especially this year people should keep the people of Bethlehem in mind when they see a living Nativity scene or a crèche in a home or church. “For them, it promises to be a Christmas of suffering, of mourning, without pilgrims, without celebrations.”
“And naturally this extends to all the inhabitants of the land where Jesus was born, lived, died and rose again,” he said. “We know the situation caused by the war, the consequence of a conflict that has lasted for decades.”
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