Every Christmas, a silent battle is waged in the heart of our culture: the one that pits the Christian identity that has shaped us against a society that, step by step, seeks to erase its own foundations. It is not a new phenomenon, but it has intensified in the last decade, especially in schools and public spaces where the nativity scene is prohibited “to avoid offending.” This is compounded by the trend of empty or ideologized nativity scenes that, far from announcing the mystery of the Incarnation, manipulate it to spread political agendas or messages contrary to the true message of Christmas. In Brussels, for example, a nativity scene with faceless figures ended up wrapped in controversy before the figure of the Baby Jesus disappeared. In the United States, some temples have replaced the Holy Family with political protest messages, turning the manger into an object of propaganda.
The Nativity Scene, Much More Than a Decorative Tradition
In 2017, the President of the Council of Ministers of Italy explained that she was abandoning the Christmas tree to return to the nativity scene not out of nostalgia, but out of conviction. How can a child born in a stable offend? How can a poor family fleeing to protect him be offensive? How can a culture formed in the light of that story offend? The simplicity of the manger hides no aggression; on the contrary, it illuminates the dignity of life, the tenderness of God, and the moral foundation of our civilization.
Values Born from a Manger: The Foundation of a Civilization
Meloni insisted that even those who do not believe recognize in that symbol a synthesis of the values that sustain our culture. From the manger, we learned respect for life, the sanctity of the human being, and the sense of solidarity. These are values that spring from the mystery of God made Child and that shaped the Christian history of Europe. When the manger is replaced by ideological messages, those values become uprooted and turn into mere words without content. The manger, on the other hand, embodies them and explains them without the need for speeches.
Meloni’s invitation to “make the nativity scene” and to live a “nativity scene revolution” is not a political slogan; it is a defense of the truth and beauty that modernity seeks to hide..