The Vatican’s 2025 Nativity scene in St. Peter’s Square is a visual meditation on the mystery of the Incarnation in “real time.” Christ's coming is not only something that happened at one point in history, but influences every generation. This is beautifully represented with the incorporation of St. Alphonus Ligouri and two others in the process of canonization, as well as the Jubilee Year’s Holy Door.
These elements highlight the spiritual reality that Christ — yesterday, today, and forever — is the living source and herald of our immediate and ultimate hopes. That he comes for all peoples with the invitation to come closer to him, to collaborate in his story of salvation history.
This year’s scene comes the southern Italian Diocese of Nocera Inferiore-Sarno in Salerno whose Christian history dates back to the third century.
(Since 2012, after 30 years of staging the Nativity in St. Peter’s Square and increased expenses of the annual project, Pope Benedict agreed to a proposal that would invite dioceses across Italy to donate uniquely created offerings. Two exceptions to Italian donors have been Malta in 2016 and Peru in 2021.)
This variety of creche scenes have brought uniquely individual symbols and significances from each region’s culture and Catholic history.
Designer architect Angelo Santitor drew on his childhood memories for this Nativity scene. In an interview with the Vatican City State, Santitor said:
“In my mind, the quintessential Christmas song “Tu scendi dalle stelle” [You Come Down from the Stars] resounded.
"It was written by St. Alphonsus Maria de’ Liguori, whose life as an architect, artist, musician greatly influenced my own formation.”
A red two-story house is modeled after typical homes with courtyards from the designer's native area. The large portal forms a prominent element of the scene drawing attention to a well-lit room in which St. Alphonsus Ligouri sits at a harpsichord playing the Christmas carol he wrote, with two children at his side.
A large clock recalls the saint’s custom of reciting one Hail Mary at each hour’s chime.
A saint to visit Bethlehem
St. Alphonsus Ligouri founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (the Redemptorists) in 1732 near Naples in the Campania region.
Among other elements to represent the designer's native region are the central double-columns and partial dome painted as the sky with suspended angels, based on the ancient baptistry in the local Basilica of St. Mary Major.
Santitor’s intention was to create a focal point around “the one true center, He who is true peace.”
He does this creating a village scene integrated with the traditional creche figures, but also with regional elements. For example, the shepherds are shown offering the Baby Jesus (who will not be placed in the manger until Christmas Eve) agricultural products like spring onions, artichokes, and tomatoes common to the region.
This gives a sense of both the historical and timeless realities of the Incarnation of the second person of the Trinity. He was born into human history only once, but is present in the lives of men and women throughout history.
Marrying scenes from across millennia — the birth of the Christ child, early Christianity, saints from recent centuries and the current Jubilee Year — highlight the timelessness of God’s omnipresence and his desire to be part of our lives, in “reality” both historically and outside of created time.
2 Servants of God
Other figures in the scene represent notable holy persons from the same region.
Servant of God Don Enrico Smaldone of Angri is seen as a shepherd accompanied by two other children to whom he points out Christ as “the sole center of the educational process,” according to Santitor.
Servant of God Alfonso Russo of Pagani is present accompanying a sick person towards salvation.
One additional element to note is the figure of a fisherman who holds a large anchor between the baptistry and the house, pointing to the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica, a nod to the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope.
A third archway on the far left of the scene includes an angel announcing the glad tidings to a sleeping shepherd; the iron gate and staircase represent the boundary between the old and new life in Christ.
Above the scene is a star whose tail, shaped like an anchor, also represents the union of heaven and earth.
According to a press release from the Vatican City State Governorate on October 3, “The work represents the Mystery of the Incarnation, integrating religious symbols, elements of the territory, and figures exemplary of local spirituality.”
