Pope Francis visits a Nativity scene in the Vatican’s Paul VI
hall during an audience. Photo: CNS. 
edited by Brandon Scott
Pope Francis encouraged Catholics to celebrate Christmas with a focus on Jesus Christ’s closeness, not on the consumerist, commercial aspects of the holiday.
“Let’s not live a fake Christmas, please, a commercial Christmas,” the Pope advised. “Let us allow ourselves to be wrapped up in the closeness of God, this closeness which is compassionate, which is tender; wrapped in the Christmas atmosphere that art, music, songs, and traditions bring into the heart.”
The Pope also urged people to not let Christmas “be polluted by consumerism and indifference”. The symbols of Christmas, especially the nativity and Christmas tree, “bring us back to the certainty that fills our hearts with peace, to the joy of the Incarnation”, he said.