Vatican Christmas tree lit, symbolizing ‘brilliant divine light’

CWN – December 13, 2013

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The giant Christmas tree in St. Peter’s Square was illuminated on Friday, December 13, and Pope Francis told visiting German pilgrims that the tree symbolizes “the joy of the brilliant divine light.”

The enormous fir tree was donated to the Vatican by the people of Waldmunchen, a German town near the border of the Czech Republic. Meeting with a group from Waldmunchen to thank them, the Pope said that the tree would testify to the “spiritual closeness and friendship that unites all of Germany, and particularly Bavaria, with the Holy See.”