The Vatican’s 2021 Nativity scene hails from Chopcca, Peru, a small town high in the Andes.
Native dress and local animals are included in the scene.
As Pope Francis reminds us: “Why does the Christmas crèche arouse such wonder and move us so deeply? First, because it shows God’s tender love: The Creator of the universe lowered himself to take up our littleness. The gift of life, in all its mystery, becomes all the more wondrous as we realize that the Son of Mary is the source and sustenance of all life. In Jesus, the Father has given us a brother who comes to seek us out whenever we are confused or lost, a loyal friend ever at our side. He gave us his Son who forgives us and frees us from our sins.”
He added, “ … the crèche helps us to imagine the scene. It touches our hearts and makes us enter into salvation history as contemporaries of an event that is living and real in a broad gamut of historical and cultural contexts.”
The Holy Father concluded: “Dear brothers and sisters, the Christmas crèche is part of the precious yet demanding process of passing on the faith. Beginning in childhood, and at every stage of our lives, it teaches us to contemplate Jesus, to experience God’s love for us, to feel and believe that God is with us and that we are with him, his children, brothers and sisters all, thanks to that Child who is the Son of God and the Son of the Virgin Mary. And to realize that in that knowledge we find true happiness. Like St. Francis, may we open our hearts to this simple grace, so that from our wonderment a humble prayer may arise: a prayer of thanksgiving to God, who wished to share with us his all, and thus never to leave us alone.
To celebrate Peruvian crèches in light of this year’s Vatican scene, the Register offers a few more examples, above and below, courtesy of ICTYS, Instituto Cultural Teatral y Social, to celebrate the Christmas season, thanks to the coordination of Ursula Murua, EWTN’s director of digital strategy and social media.
Feliz Navidad y un prospero Año Nuevo!