Pope: Christmas is also an occasion to “encourage openness to others”
Francis met with the performers and organisers of tomorrow’s Christmas Concert in the Vatican. "There is a need today also to spread the message of peace and fraternity that is inherent in Christmas,” he said.
Vatican City (AsiaNews) – Pope Francis spoke to performers and organisers of tomorrow’s Christmas concert in the Vatican.
The event, now in its 25th edition, will see the participation of world famous artists, like Lola Ponce, Joaquín Cortés, and Patty Smith, for the purpose of raising funds for two educational projects for children and youth in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Argentina.
In his address, the pontiff said, “there is a need today also to spread the message of peace and fraternity that is inherent in Christmas”, a “warm, widely appreciated feast that can warm the coldest of hearts, remove the barriers of indifference to one’s neighbours, and encourage openness to others and free giving.”
Nowadays, there is a need to “represent this event by expressing the true sentiments that animate it.” In fact, “art is a formidable means to open the doors of the mind and of the heart to the true meaning of Christmas. The creativity and genius of the artists, with their works, even with music and songs, manage to succeed in reaching the most intimate registers of consciousness.”
“May the Christmas concert in the Vatican be an occasion to sow tenderness . . . a word forgotten so much today [a time of] violence, war [to which we should say] no, no: tenderness, to sow tenderness, peace and welcome, which spring from the grotto in Bethlehem.”
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