Manila (Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN) - With a Filipino Christmas carol as background music, the Vatican unveiled its Nativity scene on Friday at St. Peter's Square that for the first time ncluded nine Filipino statues.
A report on the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) website Saturday said the Filipino icons complemented the traditional figures of the Holy Family to mark the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the Philippines and the Holy See.
Filipino sculptor Kublai Ponce-Millan designed the statues "to represent different indigenous groups of the Philippines in a festive celebration of faith, music, food and family on the occasion of the birth of Jesus," the CBCP report said.
"The attractive smiling figures dressed in colorful native attire and playing musical instruments, portray the joyful spirit of Philippine Christmas which is known as the 'longest and most festive celebration in the world.'"
This was the first time that the Vatican allowed a country outside Italy to participate in the preparations for its giant Nativity scene, which occupies more than 3,200 square feet of St. Peter's Square. The event was initiated in 1982 by the late Pope John Paul II.
The oldest statues in the reproduction of the Bethlehem scene were prepared by no less than a 19th-century saint of the Catholic Church, St. Vincent Pallotti.
"Filipinos are honored as they join the hundreds of pilgrims who come to St. Peter's Square at this time of the year, to contemplate the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who came to call all peoples into the one family of God," the CBCP report said.
Unveiling rites
Philippine Ambassador to the Vatican Mercedes A. Tuason and Filipino community leader Josephine Bantug led Filipinos in Rome during the unveiling ceremony.
Angelo Cardinal Comastri, archpriest of the Basilica of St. Peter, led the prayer service, while a Filipino Christmas carol sung by the Karilagan Filipino choir from Sentro Pilipino was a special highlight of the occasion.
At 6 pm, Pope Benedict XVI lighted a candle for peace as he watched the unveiling ceremony from the window of the papal apartments. In the darkness, he blessed the assembled crowd with the light of the single candle, the CBCP report said.
Tuason thanked the Governorate of the Vatican City State for giving the Philippines "a special place in the center of the Roman Catholic Church's celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ this year."
The gesture, according to Giovanni Cardinal Lajolo, president of the governorate, was a recognition of the Philippines' special contribution to the Catholic Church, CBCP report said.
Lajolo noted the dynamic faith of Filipino Catholics and underlined that the Philippines is the largest Christian country in Asia, the report added.
