[ad_1]
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican has hosted some unorthodox nativity scenes over the years, but this season’s entry looks like it came from outer space.
The futuristic ceramic nursery, which includes an astronaut and a character reminiscent of Darth Vader from Star Wars, has received so much terrible reviews that, if it were a Broadway play, it would probably have closed on opening night.
Some social media users, perhaps in keeping with the prevailing mood in 2020, called it disturbing or lacking calm.
Others were more scathing.
“In the name of healthy Christianity, what have you created in Vatican Square?” AA Michelangelo tweeted. “… Words (are) inappropriate for this horrible creation that must have come from the planet Zog.”
Mary, Joseph, the three kings, and the shepherds look like cubic chess figures and the animals are plump and square.
The Vatican uses a different nativity scene each year, usually donated by towns or artists.
This year’s largest and modernist exhibition, which has appeared in various venues, was held by students and teachers in Castelli, an Italian city famous for ceramics, between 1965 and 1975.
Italians traditionally add a new character to represent a current event.
Previous Vatican nativity scenes have included a broken ship depicting the plight of refugees and a person visiting a prisoner in a jail cell, symbolizing charity. Last year it was sculpted from 720 tons of beach sand.
The astronaut depicts the lunar landings of the late 1960s and early 1970s, according to a description for visitors.
A person on social media responded by posting an image showing that figure planting a Vatican flag on the moon. Another showed Darth Vader asking how to get to St. Peter’s Square.
Among the scene’s few staunch fans was American Lino Rulli, who hosts “The Catholic Guy,” a weekday radio show in Minnesota. “I don’t know what I love most: the astronaut or the boy from Star Wars Cantina. I really want a little one for our house,” he tweeted.
For others closer to home, the decision of the de facto municipal government of Vatican City to use it in late 2020 of every year was particularly upsetting.
“With this global pandemic and everything else, the Christian people, or anyone else, was waiting for a sign of rebirth,” said Alfredo Chiarelli, 65, who has been selling religious items in the square for 30 years.
“It has confused and saddened a lot of people,” he told Reuters.
[ad_2]
