VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXII - # 227   
   DATE 19-12-2014   
      
   Summary:   
   - The Nativity and the Christmas Tree are signs of light and hope   
   - Francis: sport to promote friendship between peoples   
   - Audiences   
      
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    The Nativity and the Christmas Tree are signs of light and hope   
    Vatican City, 19 December 2014 (VIS) - This morning in the Clementine Hall   
   the Pope received delegations from the Italian provinces of Verona and   
   Catanzaro, which provided the Nativity scene with its terracotta figures and   
   the Christmas tree that are decorating St. Peter's Square during the festive   
   season this year, and which will be illuminated before the public this evening.   
    "Christian values have enriched the culture, literature, music and art of   
   your lands, and today such values continue to constitute a valuable heritage   
   to be preserved and transmitted to future generations", he said. "The Nativity   
   and the Christmas tree are evocative festive symbols very dear to our   
   Christian families: they recall the mystery of the Incarnation, the only   
   begotten Son of God, made flesh in order to save us, and the light that Jesus   
   has brought to the world through His birth. But the creche and the tree touch   
   the hearts of all, as they speak of fraternity, intimacy and friendship,   
   calling to people of our time to rediscover the beauty of simplicity, sharing   
   and solidarity. They are an invitation to unity, harmony and peace; an   
   invitation to make room, in our personal and social life, for God, Who does   
   not come with arrogance, imposing His power, but instead offers His omnipotent   
   love through the fragile figure of a Child. The creche and the tree therefore   
   bring a message of light, hope, and love".   
    "The Messiah made Himself man and came among us, to dispel the shadows of   
   error and sin, bringing His divine light to humanity. Jesus Himself says of   
   Himself: 'I am the light of the world; whoever follows me will never walk in   
   darkness but will have the light of life'. Let us follow Him, the true light,   
   so as not to lose our way and in turn to reflect light and warmth on those who   
   go through moments of difficulty and inner darkness".   
      
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    Francis: sport to promote friendship between peoples   
    Vatican City, 19 December 2014 (VIS) - The Italian National Olympic Committee   
   (CONI) celebrates its centenary this year. This morning around five thousand   
   managers and athletes from the Committee attended a Mass in St. Peter's   
   Basilica, after which Pope Francis addressed a brief discourse to them. "In   
   our times sport is the home of the Church, and this meeting is the proof of   
   this: we celebrate together your centenary, an important anniversary for   
   Italian sport", he said.   
    The Holy Father commented that for one hundred years the CONI has promoted   
   and organised sport in Italy not only in relation to the great global event   
   that is the Modern Olympics, but also focusing on the popular, social,   
   educational and cultural dimensions. "It does this taking inspiration from the   
   principles of the Olympic Charter, that places among its main aims the   
   centrality of the person, the harmonious development of humanity, the defence   
   of human dignity, and, moreover, the contribution to a better world, without   
   wars or tension, educating the young through sport practised without   
   discrimination of any type, in a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair   
   play".   
    "Sport has always promoted universalism characterised by fraternity and   
   friendship among peoples, accord and peace between nations; respect,   
   tolerance, and harmony in diversity", he added. "Every sporting event,   
   especially Olympic ones, in which representatives of nations with different   
   histories, cultures, traditions, faiths and values compete, can be come a   
   channel for an ideal strength able to open up new paths, at times unexpected,   
   in overcoming conflicts caused by the violation of human rights".   
    The Olympic motto, "Citius, altius, fortius", "is not an incitement to the   
   supremacy of one nation over another, of one people over another people, nor   
   of the exclusion of the weakest and least protected, but rather represents the   
   challenge posed to all of us, not just athletes: that of making the effort and   
   the sacrifice to reach the important goals in life, accepting one's own limits   
   without allowing oneself to be obstructed by them, but seeking instead to   
   overcome them".   
    The Holy Father encouraged the members of CONI to continue their work in   
   schools, in the world of work and in solidarity "to promote a sport that is   
   accessible to all, mindful of the weakest and of the most precarious sectors   
   of society; an inclusive sport for the differently-abled, foreigners, those   
   who live in peripheries and are in need of meeting places, sociality, sharing   
   and play; a sport that aims not at being 'useful', but at the development of   
   the human person, in a gratuitous fashion".   
    Finally, Francis remarked that CONI was the first national Olympic committee   
   - whose example was later followed by others - to include an Olympic chaplain   
   in its organisation. "It is a friendly presence to demonstrate the closeness   
   of the Church and to stimulate in sports people a strong sense of spiritual   
   training. Indeed, there are certain words typical of sport that can be used to   
   refer to spiritual life. The saints understood this, and knew how to interpret   
   passion, enthusiasm, constancy, determination, challenge and limits, looking   
   beyond themselves, towards the horizon of God".   
      
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    Audiences   
    Vatican City, 19 December 2014 (VIS) - Today, the Holy Father received in   
   audience:   
    - Cardinal Marc Ouellet, P.S.S., prefect of the Congregation for Bishops;   
    - Archbishop Georges Pontier of Marseilles, France, president of the   
   Conference of Bishops of France, accompanied by Bishop Pascal Delannoy of   
   Saint-Denis, vice president, and Msgr. Olivier Ribadeau, general secretary.   
      
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