“It was a great honor to meet Pope Francis and give him some gifts from Friuli Venezia Giulia, including a lace made by the School of Gorizia, testifying to the deep roots of art in our region.
The inauguration of the crib donated to the Vatican by the Municipality of Sutrio will project our region at the center of the celebrations of Holy Christmas in the beating heart of Christianity until Epiphany”.
This is the comment of the governor of Friuli Venezia Giulia, Massimiliano Fedriga, at the end of the audience with the Holy Father which took place – on the morning of Saturday 3 December – in the Vatican, during which some particularly representative objects were donated by the Friuli Venezia Giulia delegation of the region including, in addition to the lace, a pair of scarpez, the typical traditional handmade footwear of Carnia and Friuli, and a wooden Christ carved by Moro Isaia, one of the artists who created the Sutrio crib.
“Meeting the Holy Father is always a great emotion and it is very pleasing that Pope Francis mentioned our territory in his speech and in particular the town of Sutrio, which created the wonderful nativity scene now located in Piazza San Pietro”, said Fedriga , accompanied to the Vatican, among others, by the councilors for productive activities and tourism, Sergio Emidio Bini and for environmental protection, Fabio Scoccimarro.
In his speech, the Holy Father, after having addressed a thought to the wood craftsmen who carved the statues of the crib, highlighted how this representation of the nativity speaks of the birth of the Son of God who became man to be close to each of us.
In its genuine poverty, the nativity scene helps to rediscover the true richness of Christmas and to purify us from many aspects that pollute the Christmas landscape. Simple and familiar, the nativity scene recalls a different Christmas from the consumerist and commercial one: it’s something else; remember how much it does us good to cherish moments of silence and prayer in our days, often overwhelmed by frenzy.
Silence favors the contemplation of the Child Jesus, it helps to become intimate with God, with the fragile simplicity of a small newborn, with the meekness of his being laid down, with the tender affection of the swaddling clothes that surround him.