Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Quito (Agenzia Fides) - To bring the true sense and Message of Christmas into the homes of Ecuadorians, starting on Sunday 16 November a special Novena of Christmas television programme will be broadcast every evening until Christmas Eve on national television. The purpose of this daily 15 minute programme, promoted by the Catholic Bishops' Conference, is "to prepare for the Christmas festivities, and to support the Catholic faith and cultural values of our country and our families” the Bishops explain.
Availing itself of decisive and generous collaboration on the part of local, national and international TV channels, the Catholic Church in Ecuador intends to “recall the true sense of Christmas and the profound human a social values which are born with the nativity of Jesus and which are frequently obscured by materialism and consumerism”.
The daily Christmas Novena programme consists of a special prayer, a reading of a passage of the Scriptures, followed by a blessing and a short presentation of "Christmas in history and in art”: the Christmas Crib first started by St Francis of Assisi, Christmas in Quiteño Art, the celebration of Christmas in the world, the Novena in Ecuador and elsewhere in America, nativity scenes in Ecuador, set in Ecuador's enchanting scenery. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 17/12/2007; righe 15, parole 195)
