Vatican City: Pope Francis on Sunday warned people against “frenetic” consumerism during Christmas and urged them to remember those live in penury.
During his Sunday blessing and the last sermon before Christmas, the pope said: “There is no consumerism in the manger in Bethlehem. What is there is reality, poverty and love.”
The pope also appeared to give a thumbs-down to an unorthodox nativity scene—a larger-than-life ceramic assembly of statues that included not only an astronaut but also a character that looked like Darth Vader from the Star Wars franchise—at St Peters’s Square.
Each year, Vatican exhibits a donated nativity scene chosen by the municipal administration.
This year’s exhibit was made by students and teachers of an Italian town famous for ceramics. The astronaut depicts the lunar landings in the 1960s and 1970s, a note on the exhibit pointed out.
The nativity scene has been criticized in the media and by visitors.
Speaking from his window, Francis gestured people towards an outdoor exhibit where small traditional nativity scenes were put on display.
These show “how people try to use art to show how Jesus was born (and)… are a great religious education of our faith,” he said.