A Christmas without lights, with trees and cribs only in homes, in those where at least there will still be enough desire to do it.
No festoons or lights in the streets.
It is in the dark and in the cold that we prepare to celebrate Christmas in Ukraine this year.
"This year our Christmas will be very different from last year but it is not our first Christmas of war. Many in the world forget that Ukrainian families have been experiencing this suffering for eight years".
These are the words of the Catholic bishop of the Latin rite of Kiev, Monsignor Vitalii Kryvytskyi, from his residence a few meters from the Maidan and next to the cathedral of Sant'Alessandro, which at the time of the communist regime had been transformed into a planetarium and, perhaps a little ' for disfigurement, in the museum of atheism.
He then speaks of the confrontation he had in recent days with the other bishops in preparation for the Christmas masses: "We have decided not to speak of forgiveness, this is not the right time to do so. In whose name should we offer forgiveness, of a woman who Was she raped? By a mother who saw her son killed at the front and won't be at the festive table for this? Who should we give our forgiveness to: who has never asked for it?".
Harsh words but at the same time full of realism because even those who believe in God and pray have been living under attack for months, or more precisely for years.
And then "it will be possible to start talking about forgiveness, if we want to give value to this word and not make a caricature of it, only when the war is over", says the bishop frankly.
Then Monsignor Vitalii changes tone and jokingly says that Christmas in Ukraine lasts from December 25 to January 7, the first is the date of the Latins, the second of the Greek-Catholics, but in families of mixed faiths they take the opportunity "to celebrate twice ".
The bishop, to a group of journalists following a mission by the Ukrainian and Polish embassies to the Holy See, then announced that the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches, where Orthodox, Catholics but also Jews and Muslims are represented, has asked the Holy See for a meeting in the Vatican to pray together for peace.
"We hope it can be held at the end of January", he adds, explaining that the organization of this event is in the hands of the Nunciature in Kiev.
Finally, even in the bishop's palace, everything has been prepared to deal with any blackouts.
"We are waiting for the generator", adds the prelate.
Forty of these real 'lifesavers' will instead reach parishes and families in the diocese of Kiev from Jesolo.
The auxiliary bishop Oleksandr Yazlovetskiy is in the Venetian town these days to bless the traditional sand nativity scene.
To thank him, it was decided to donate to his Church these machines that are now indispensable for overcoming the dark and cold of these days.
