VATICAN CITY, DEC. 24, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI gave his collaborators in the Roman Curia a traditional Italian Christmas present: panettone, home-made by prisoners of Padua.
The Vatican’s semi-official daily, L’Osservatore Romano, noted that a means to reinsert prisoners in society is teaching them a trade.
There were 232 cakes, 12 of which were packaged in boxes that reproduce Giotto’s Christmas frescoes in the Scrovegni chapel in Padua.
The Pope’s Christmas gift drew from various associations that help the disadvantaged. In the packages were boxes decorated with designs by the Italian Comet association, dedicated to receiving children and offering them socio-educational projects.
Chocolate came from the Piazza dei Mestieri Foundation of Turin, which works with adolescents at risk of being marginalized.
Wines came from the Pinocho therapeutic community of Brescia, dedicated to the physical, moral and social re-establishment of drug addicts.
Finally, preserves were made by the Trappists of Vitorchiano, a community located some 100 kilometers (62 miles) north of Rome.
