Bethlehem Peace Light handed over to Belarusian scouts at the Polish-Belarusian border PHOTOS
On the evening of December 17, Polish scouts handed over the Bethlehem Peace Light to their Belarusian counterparts on the territory between Poland and Belarus, at the Kuźnica Białostocka – Bruzgi border crossing point, the press service of the Grodno Diocese reports .
Belarusian Catholic scouts, as every year, deliver the light to Grodno. On December 18, at 5 PM, it will be solemnly brought into the Cathedral of St. Francis Xavier.
The scouts then distribute the light throughout the country.
This year's Bethlehem Light transfer campaign is held under the motto "Cultivate good within yourself": this means that to make the world a better place, one must start with oneself, developing one's own good qualities and caring for good relationships. Along with the transfer of the Bethlehem Light, a message of peace is symbolically conveyed, so that, just as this light shines, hope that cannot be extinguished shines in the world.
The Bethlehem Light transfer campaign began in 1986 in Austria. The scout movement joined it, and over time it spread to other countries.
The Bethlehem Light is lit by a child or teenager from one of the 15 inextinguishable lamps located in the Grotto of the Nativity in Bethlehem. The light is then transported by a special flight to Austria, and from there to other countries.
This year, despite the armed conflict in the Middle East, it was possible to light the fire: in early November, eleven-year-old Jaris Fady Hieer from a Christian family in Bethlehem did so.
Then in Austria, the light was met by thirteen-year-old Florian Mitter, who on November 19 handed it over at an audience in the Vatican to Leo XIV, thus becoming the fourth Pope (after John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis) to receive this light.
The Bethlehem Light was officially delivered to Belarus for the first time in 1998. Polish scouts, who pass it on to Belarusian ones, receive the light directly in Vienna. Since 2008, Catholic scouts have played a key role in spreading the Bethlehem Light in Belarus among parishes and institutions. This year, scouts from Vitebsk, Grodno, Zhodino, Ivenets, Polotsk, and Minsk are involved in the transfer of the light. It is planned to hand it over to more than 150 Roman Catholic and Greek Catholic parishes.
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