In the nativity scene in the Vatican, the keffiyeh that wrapped the cradle and the baby Jesus disappear. On the page of Vatican News, the official portal of Vatican information, a photo appears of this morning's nativity scene on the occasion of the general audience of Pope Francis in the Paul VI Hall, in which the cradle, the keffiyeh and the baby Jesus that were there in the previous days are missing .

The nativity scene was donated by the Palestinian community of Bethlehem and has also been the center of controversy in the Jewish world . "The Baby Jesus will be placed in the nativity scene on the night between December 24 and 25 as per tradition," says the Vatican press office. As for the keffiyeh, "it appears that the element was added at the last moment by the artist."

There were various criticisms on social media: "Jesus was Jewish. Wrapping the baby in the Palestinian keffiyeh means giving an assist to Islamic terrorists," wrote a user on X. "The gesture of putting the Child in the keffiyeh makes one think that too many only want war, not peace," another commented.

The Italian Jewish portal Moked/Pagine Ebraiche also attacked Francis. The Pope's action, who stopped for a few minutes in front of the nativity scene in silent prayer, "does not help - they claim - to stop anti-Semitism". "Dismay and anxiety in the Italian Jewish world - we read on the portal voce dei rabbini in Italia - for the choice of Pope Francis to pay homage in the Vatican to a nativity scene from Bethlehem in which the baby Jesus rests in a cloth evocative of the Palestinian keffiyeh".

(Online Union)

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