By Dominic Redcliffe

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Hello from Rome to you all at home.

 

Here in Rome, Christmas lights have been appearing across the city. These range from the dazzling strings of white lights that run along the whole of the Via del Corso, a major shopping street, to twinkling lights decorating balconies on the apartment buildings around my college. Yes, I’ve even got some in my room!

 

One of the surprising things about Advent here is that many churches have displays of Christmas cribs. During a liturgy lesson, a suggestion was made to visit the Basilica of Sant’Andrea della Valle which is famed for its incredible ceiling frescoes and the second largest dome in the city after St. Peter’s. What I didn’t expect was to see the basilica full of dozens of cribs. They ranged from small cribs that you might have at home to one that was about the length of a bus.

 

Many diverse cultures from around the world were represented - some grand, some more modest and simple. Others have an old Italian town setting and are full of little figures of the townsfolk going about their business. You’ll see shops, houses and even pizzerias. Some have figures that move, or have waterwheels with mini flowing streams bubbling away. As well as the central figures of the nativity, the little figures of people and animals are going about their business just as it would have been in Bethlehem. It’s lovely seeing adults and children pointing to parts of the crib that catch their eye.

 

When I was a teacher in a Catholic primary school, I always enjoyed the excitement of an afternoon when the children could make their own crib to take home. Lots of cutting, sticking and colouring took place with the occasional crisis of someone losing a king or shepherd that had to be replaced.

 

Pope Francis wrote an Apostolic Letter about the “Wonder of the Crib” in 2019 (Admirabile Signum). From the crib scene created by St Francis in 1223 to those of today, Pope Francis reminds us that “the nativity scene is like a living Gospel rising up from the pages of sacred Scripture.”

 

I hope you will see a crib this Christmas that makes you smile and think of the love that Jesus brought to us at His birth – just like the ones here do for me.

 

Until next time. Buon Natale!