Pope Leo meets with artists and organisers involved in the Vatican’s Christmas Concert, saying that the festive period reminds us that God comes to meet us “at the very heart of our small human stories.”
By Vatican News
For 33 years, the Vatican has hosted a Christmas concert in the Paul VI Hall. This year, the event is taking place at the auditorium on Via della Conciliazione, not far from St. Peter’s Basilica, on Saturday, December 13th.
In a meeting with organisers and the artists who will be participating, the Pope emphasized that “music accompanies our journeys, our memories and our efforts: it is a shared intimate diary that preserves each person’s feelings—nostalgia, desire, expectation, disorientation, rebirth—telling our story with simplicity and, at the same time, with depth.”
God meets us in our stories
“Christmas also reminds us,” Pope Leo continued, “that in order to reveal himself, God chooses a human setting. He does not rely on grand scenery, but on a simple home; he does not show himself from afar, but draws near; he does not remain in an inaccessible place in heaven, but comes to meet us at the very heart of our small stories.”
The Pope recalled that the proceeds of this year’s concert will go to a Salesian missionary project in the Republic of the Congo, where a primary school for 350 is to be built.
This project, the Pope noted, reminds us that beauty, “when it is authentic, does not remain closed in on itself, but gives rise to responsible choices for the world.”
With Christmas around the corner, the Pope expressed his hope that “music might be a dwelling place for the soul—an inner space where the heart can speak, drawing us closer to God and allowing our humanity to be ever more inspired by his love.”
