Pope Benedict XVI lights a candle from his private window at the end of the unveiling ceremony of the Nativity scene in St Peter's Square at the Vatican.(Photo: VINCENZO PINTO AFP/Getty Images)
Monday afternoon, Pope Benedict XVI began Christmas Eve ceremonies by
lighting the Christmas candle, symbolizing the light of Christ, in the
window of his Vatican apartment.
An assistant held the match and
steadied the glass-enclosed candle and then the pope blessed the crowd
below, which had gathered for the unveiling of a Nativity scene in St.
Peter's Square.
The Nativity scene has already made headlines --
but not for religious reasons. It was donated to the Vatican after
embarrassing leaked documents pointed out that the Holy See spent
$717,000 for last year's creche.
The 2012 creche, an elaborate
miniature recreation of Bethlehem with dozens of tiny characters looking
toward the glowing manger scene, was paid for with corporate and
private donors who raised $110,000. The Vatican kicked in nearly $24,000
for labor and set-up costs. Last week, the pope pardoned his former
butler who gave stolen documents about Vatican finances to an Italian
journalist.
Christmas season is an exhausting run for the 85-year old Benedict -- the sixth-oldest pope since the 15th century.
He
has a few hours for a family dinner with his brother, the Rev. Georg
Ratzinger, at the papal apartments before the 10 p.m. Christmas Midnight
Mass at St. Peter's Basilica, according to Reuters.
Christmas Day is his annual blessing from the church to the world, Urbi et Orbi,
and his Christmas message. New Year's Eve there are prayers to thank
God for his goodness in the passing year. Then New Year's Day he
celebrates s a special Mass and offers a prayer for world peace. That's
when a global audience tunes in to the Vatican to see him lead the
world's 1.2 billion Catholics in prayer and celebration.
However,
the pope has put new energy into making strategic use of modern media
outreach. Last year, he began using a rolling platform to traverse the
football-field-length of the main aisle of St. Peter's Basilica. He also
uses a cane in public on taxing trips.
More than 2.2 million
people -- 1.3 million in English -- now follow Benedict's personal
Twitter account in eight languages. So far there have been 12 tweets --
answering questions posed to him or drawing 140-characters of
inspiration from his addresses.
He wrote about concern for global poverty in an opinion piece for the British paper, the Financial Times, last week.
The pope cause a minor media stir earlier this year over the third book in his best-selling series, Jesus of Nazareth. Critics zeroed in on fine points in The Infancy Narratives, such as whether the angels spoke or sang at the news of Christ's birth.
Benedict
writes that, "speech of angels is actually song, in which all the
glory of the great joy that they proclaim becomes tangibly present."
This puts the pope's stamp on the real presence of angels but not
necessarily on the other well-known faces in the Christmas tableau --
the Magi (the three kings).
For those who celebrate Jan. 6, when
Christians say the Magi reached Bethlehem with their gifts, Benedict
calls them historical events with theological relevance, says, Mark
Brumley, CEO of Ignatius Press, which publishes Benedict 's writings in
English.
But Benedict's defense of historical validity of the
Christmas story in the Gospels is less important than his
theology-for-the-common-Christian approach, says John Allen, Vatican
expert for the National Catholic Reporter and author of a biography of Benedict.
Allen quotes the pope in pointing out his chief aim is "to help people on their path toward and alongside Jesus."
USA Today