Catholic News Agency portal (December 21, 2025) recounts St. Francis of Assisi’s creation of the first Nativity scene in Greccio, Italy in 1223. The article describes how Francis “desired to ‘re-present the birth of that Child in Bethlehem'” after being inspired by his Holy Land pilgrimage, with Lord Giovanni Velita preparing a cave with live animals and manger. It claims eyewitnesses saw “a real infant appear in the empty manger” during Mass, followed by miraculous healings through contact with the hay. The piece notes antipope Bergoglio’s 2019 visit to Greccio where he signed Admirabile Signum, emphasizing how “all who were present” experienced “new and indescribable joy” at Francis’ Nativity. The article concludes by mentioning annual reenactments at Greccio now in their 50th year. This sentimentalized narrative masks profound theological dangers beneath its pious veneer.
Theological Reductionism in Nativity Devotion
The article’s claim that St. Francis sought to make viewers see “what he suffered for lack of the necessities of a newborn babe” dangerously inverts the ratio fidei (logic of faith). True Catholic devotion focuses not on material poverty but the hypostatic union – God becoming flesh while remaining divine. As the Council of Ephesus (431 AD) declared: “If anyone does not confess that the Word of God suffered in the flesh and was crucified in the flesh, let him be anathema.” Francis’ original emphasis aligned with this dogma, using visual imagery to reinforce the mysterium incarnationis (mystery of incarnation), not emotional humanitarianism.
Modern distortions transform the Nativity into social commentary, evidenced when Bergoglio’s Admirabile Signum reduces the cave to a venue for “new and indescribable joy” – language suspiciously echoing Gaudium et Spes‘ naturalistic optimism. Contrast this with Pius XII’s Mediator Dei (1947): “The worship rendered to God in ceremonies, prayers… must be actus latriae (acts of worship) intrinsically proper to divine majesty.” The Greccio miracle’s Eucharistic dimension proves this: Thomas of Celano’s Vita Prima (1228) records that “the priest celebrated solemn Mass over the manger,” confirming the nexus mysteriorum (connection of mysteries) between Incarnation and Holy Sacrifice.
Bergoglio’s Sacrilegious Usurpation
Bergoglio’s 2019 signing of Admirabile Signum at Greccio constitutes blasphemous theater. A valid pope’s presence would have emphasized lex orandi, lex credendi (the law of praying is the law of believing), but this antipope instead exploited the site to advance conciliar errors. His document claims “the Nativity scene is part of the precious yet demanding process of passing on the faith” – code for the modernist evolutionary dogma condemned by St. Pius X in Pascendi Dominici Gregis (1907): “They affirm that religious formulas… are to be reduced and revised to suit the needs of modern culture.”
The article’s reference to “the bond between the incarnation of the Son of God and the Eucharist” rings hollow when Bergoglio’s Vatican promotes intercommunion with heretics. Compare this betrayal to Pius XI’s Quas Primas (1925): “When once men recognize… that Christ is King… society will at last receive the great blessings of real liberty, orderly discipline, peace and harmony.” True Eucharistic kingship requires condemning false religions, not the false ecumenism Bergoglio displayed at Greccio.
Miracles Versus Modernist Manipulation
Thomas of Celano’s account of the miraculous Christ Child apparition served to confirm Catholic doctrine, not inspire folk piety. The 13th-century chronicler specifies: “The vision of the miraculous Child… served to confirm the veritatem sancti evangelii (truth of the holy Gospel).” Yet the article isolates this miracle as sentimental theater, omitting how medieval chronicles directly connect it to Eucharistic faith – the living Christ substantiated in both manger apparition and transubstantiated Host.
Modern reenactments constitute dangerous innovation when detached from doctrinal precision. Annual Greccio performances now “stage a live, historical reenactment” – a practice the Council of Trent’s Decretum de invocatione (1563) would condemn as theatricalizing sacred mysteries. As St. Charles Borromeo’s Instructions on Ecclesiastical Buildings (1577) mandated: “Nativity representations must avoid scenic elements distracting from worship.” Bergoglio’s celebration of these spectacles reveals his antipapal agenda to replace sacrifice with showmanship.
Silence on the Real Presence
The article’s gravest omission concerns the Nativity’s intrinsic link to Eucharistic adoration. Francis’ original Greccio liturgy centered on the Mass – the unbloody renewal of Calvary’s sacrifice. Yet Bergoglio’s Admirabile Signum reduces it to communal celebration: “The Nativity scene was enacted and experienced by all who were present.” This horizontalism echoes Annibale Bugnini’s liturgical revolution, condemned by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre as “replacing adoration with assembly.”
True Catholic tradition appears in the Roman Catechism (1566): “The manger of Bethlehem points to the altar where Christ’s Body is offered as true food.” Pius XII’s Mystici Corporis (1943) confirms: “The Eucharist is the fructus praecipuus (chief fruit) of the Redemption.” By divorcing Nativity devotion from this sacrificial reality, the article participates in conciliar apostasy.
Conclusion: Restoring Christ’s Kingship
St. Francis’ authentic legacy lies not in tableaux vivants but uncompromising regnavit a ligno Deus (God reigned from the Cross). Greccio’s cave witnessed his burning love for the Verbum caro factum (Word made flesh) present in Bethlehem, on Calvary, and in the Holy Eucharist. Modern distortions substitute this vertical worship with horizontal “experiences,” fulfilling Pius X’s warning in Pascendi about modernists making religion “a mere sentiment.” Only by rejecting Bergoglio’s anti-church and returning to the lex perpetua (perpetual law) of Catholic Tradition can Christ’s royal birth be properly honored.
Source:
St. Francis and the story of the first Nativity scene (catholicnewsagency.com)
Date: 21.12.2025