“Christmas in the Vatican — Concert for the Missions of the Far East” will aim “to raise public awareness concerning the question of the Church’s missionary vocation and to gather funds to support missions in East Asia,” said a Vatican communiqué released Thursday.
One reason for this choice of theme, according to the statement, “is because 2006 has been proclaimed as the Xavierian Year,” in honor of the patron of missions, St. Francis Xavier, on the fifth centenary of his birth. The concert will officially mark the opening of the year.
The concert will be held Saturday, Dec. 3, in Paul VI Hall. Artists from all over the world will participate.
The concert will include various pieces from a new musical on the life of the saint: “Xavier: Dreaming of China.”
It was to that country that the Jesuit was traveling on his last missionary journey. He fell ill on the island of Sancian, 100 kilometers off the Chinese coast, and died there Dec. 3, 1552.
