This year’s Vatican Nativity scene to feature pro-life message

Each year, the Vatican features Nativity scenes to encourage the faithful to meditate on the birth of Our Lord, but this year, one of them will also encourage all who see it to pray for mothers considering abortion.

Paula Senoto, a Costa Rican sacred artist, worked with 40 Days for Life to make a pro-life Nativity scene entitled Nacimiento Gaudium. It will be installed inside the Paul VI Audience Hall in the Vatican and blessed by Pope Leo XIV Dec. 15, according to Catholic Online. She explained that this is a dream come true for her.

“[I thought] This has to be something that the whole world knows about,” she said, according to Catholic Online. “And I asked myself, ‘What place will this cry of babies to the world be heard the most? Well, the Vatican.’”

For the first 10 days, the display will feature a pregnant Virgin Mary, but on Christmas day a traditional figure of the Virgin Mary will take its place when the Christ Child is laid in his crèche. Additionally, the crèche  will be filled with more than 25,000 ribbons, with each one representing a life the work of 40 Days For Life has protected from abortion, according to Alaska Watchman.

The Nativity set was originally scheduled to debut at the Vatican in 2027, but it was moved up months ago. It will now be the first Vatican Nativity scene blessed by Pope Leo XIV.

Senoto says she thinks that God changed the plan to help bring more attention to the scourge of abortion in a time of violence and cultural confusion.

“This year, several events have occurred, a lot of violence … the deaths of certain people who have defended life,” she said, according to Catholic Online. “Many Catholics … have appeared in videos where they defend abortion. … I feel that [the pro-life message] needs to be communicated very clearly, and we need to pray a lot and get down on our knees.”

This is not the first time that the Vatican has displayed a Nativity scene with political undercurrents. In 2024, Paul VI Audience Hall featured a Nativity in which the crèche contained a Keffiyeh, a traditional Palestinian male headdress. Many interpreted the presence of the creche as a statement of solidarity with Palestinians.

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