Christmas is a time of hope. And the new, explicitly pro-life nativity scene in the Paul VI Audience Hall gives its audience just that.
The work, titled Gaudium, is by the Costa Rican artist Paula Sáenz Soto. It includes a unique detail: during Advent, the Virgin Mary appears pregnant.
PAULA SÁENZ SOTO
Artist of Sacred Art
She was pregnant; Our Lord was in her womb, was nourished by her, and then on the 24th, that image is changed: the Virgin places herself in adoration and the Baby Jesus is laid down. So we are telling the story as it truly is.
But Gaudium is not only a representation of the Nativity. It also shares a strong pro-life message. Beneath the straw and moss of the manger, there are 28,000 colored ribbons—one for each life saved from abortion thanks to prayer and the work of groups such as 40 Days for Life.
PAULA SÁENZ SOTO
Artist of Sacred Art
It is something I have wanted for a long time. I believe it is the strongest pro-life cry coming from the Vatican.
So that they know they can continue with their pregnancy and move forward, because there is also a lot of psychological harm afterward when they undergo an abortion. So this is the message Costa Rica wants to give to the world: saving the life of the baby.
In the place where the Baby Jesus will rest, more than 400 additional ribbons will also be added. They will bear intentions written by children in Costa Rica’s National Children’s Hospital.
These 400 ribbons will symbolize the hay warming Jesus in the manger, but the messages written by the children convey an even more striking message.
PAULA SÁENZ SOTO
Artist of Sacred Art
What these children are asking for on the ribbons is not that they be healed. If you read them, they say: for my family, for the doctors who are taking care of me… It’s beautiful. We are learning a great deal from the children.
The work also has a deeply personal meaning for the artist. Seeing her own story through the motherhood of the Virgin Mary, she draws on her own testimony to reach out to all mothers through her work.
PAULA SÁENZ SOTO
Sacred art artist
I can share my testimony: I also see myself reflected because I lost a baby as well, and I see myself in her because I see her joy, her total trust in the Lord, that fiat, that “yes” of Mary, which we are also saying now—trusting completely in Him, seeing that reflection of motherhood, that the womb is a sacred place.
In this lies the special character of this nativity scene and, just as profoundly, the essence of Christmas: a patient waiting that is revealed with the Birth of Jesus.
BAM
