Polish Christmas tree in Vatican
A Nativity scene and Christmas tree, like those displayed in St Peter’s Square, are visible reminders of God’s benevolence and closeness to all men and women, Pope Francis said.
“Every year, the Christmas Nativity scene and tree speak to us through their symbolic language. They make more visible what is captured in the experience of the birth of the Son of God,” Pope Francis said in a meeting with delegations from Poland and Italy, responsible respectively for the 2017 Vatican Christmas tree and Nativity scene.
The centrepiece of the Vatican’s Christmas holiday decorations is the towering 92-foot spruce tree.
Pope appoints new archbishop for Paris
Pope Francis has named Bishop Michel Aupetit of Nanterre as Archbishop of Paris, succeeding Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois.
Archbishop Aupetit, whose diocese was west of Paris, was often named as a potential successor to Cardinal Vingt-Trois, who headed the Paris Archdiocese for more than 12 years.
The 66-year-old was a doctor for 11 years before considering priesthood. He said he once dreamed of being a “travelling missionary”.
“As soon as I embrace sedentary life with delight, I have to go somewhere else,” he wrote in a letter addressed to the Catholics of Nanterre. “And again, the Church gives me a new mission.”
Archbishop Aupetit was ordained priest in 1995 for the Paris Archdiocese. In addition to his parish positions, he served as a high school chaplain from 1995 to 2001. From 1997 to 2006, he taught bioethics at Henri-Mondor University Hospital in Creteil. He was vicar general of the Parish Archdiocese, 2006-2014.
He was ordained an auxiliary bishop in Paris in 2013, before being appointed to Nanterre the following year. In March 2017, he became president of the Family and Society Council of the French bishops’ conference.
Praying is key to Christian unity say leaders
In interreligious meetings Pope Francis met with the president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), focusing on common prayer as the key to Christian unity.
Recalling his own visit to the Swedish cities of Lund and Malmo last year for the shared commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, the Pope said praying together purifies, strengthens and lights our way forward. Prayer, he insisted, is the fuel for our ecumenical journey.
Through prayer, the Pope continued, we are able to see the painful divisions of past centuries in a new light, abandoning our prejudices, purifying our memories and looking to the future with confidence. He added that by praying we are called to recognise the gifts of our different traditions and receive them as our shared Christian heritage.
In his words to Pope Francis, president of the LWF, Nigerian Archbishop Musa Panti Filibus also gave thanks for the past 50 years of progress “from conflict to communion”, acknowledging in a special way the importance of praying together to commemorate the Reformation anniversary.
