Green theme for Pope's Midnight Mass

Once again Pope Benedict has returned to a green theme in his homily at this year's Midnight Mass at St Peter's.

Zenit reports that the pope cited an image from St Gregory of Nyssa in his Christmas Midnight Mass homily.

The stable in Bethlehem, the pope said, represents our "ill-treated world," polluted especially due to the abuse of energy and its exploitation.

Referring to John 1:14 -- "He pitched his tent among us" -- Benedict said that "Gregory applies this passage about the tent to the tent of our body, which has become worn out and weak, exposed everywhere to pain and suffering. And he applies it to the whole universe, torn and disfigured by sin. What would he say if he could see the state of the world today, through the abuse of energy and its selfish and reckless exploitation?

"Thus, according to Gregory's vision, the stable in the Christmas message represents the ill-treated world. What Christ rebuilds is no ordinary palace. He came to restore beauty and dignity to creation, to the universe: This is what began at Christmas and makes the angels rejoice. The earth is restored to good order by virtue of the fact that it is opened up to God, it obtains its true light anew, and in the harmony between human will and divine will, in the unification of height and depth, it regains its beauty and dignity. Thus Christmas is a feast of restored creation."