The Vatican decorates the famous St. Peter's Square with a Christmas tree every year, but this year extra care has been taken to ensure that the display is as green as possible.
The natural 25 metre red spruce has been sourced from Northern Italy, where local schoolchildren have now planted 40 new spruce and larch seedlings to replace trees that had to be culled after they suffered from a parasite. Then, when Christmas is over, the wood from the tree will be used for charity.
In addition, the tree will be lit by 18,000 Christmas lights. While that sounds awful for the environment, each light uses very little energy and uses an LED bulb instead of a more energy intensive bulb.
As well as environmental factors, the Vatican has also decided to decorate the tree with ceramic ornaments made by children who are in hospitals across Italy, making sure that the Christmas tree really represents the Christmas spirit.
