Light of Peace from Bethlehem

The Light of Peace from Bethlehem has arrived at the CPPS community in Vila Viçosa. We are bearers of the Good News of peace. Today, this light and its message of peace will be distributed to the communities of the Vila Viçosa Council by the 639 scout group of S. Gaspar del Búfalo, after the Eucharist.

How it all began…

The "Light of Peace from Bethlehem" project was launched by Austrian public television as part of a social program called "Light in the Dark," dedicated to underprivileged people in Austria and neighboring countries. Later, Austrian scouts embraced the project, adapting it to their scouting routines but always maintaining the spirit of service to underprivileged children. By 1990, worldwide participation was so widespread that an agreement was signed between scouts and guides from many countries to allow the light, coming from Bethlehem to Vienna, to travel throughout Europe and America.
     Every year, a child from Austria collects the light from the grotto where Jesus was born (the Grotto of the Nativity) and takes it to Vienna, where it is distributed in an ecumenical ceremony prior to Christmas. The Light is given to participating delegations so that they can take it to their respective countries with a message of Peace, Love, and Hope. Then, in each country, the participating associations, in their own ceremony, distribute the Light of Peace from Bethlehem so that their scouts can redistribute it, conveying a clear message through this gesture. In Portugal, in the first decade of this century, the Light arrived through the Catholic Scout Movement of Spain and also through an Honorary Consul of Austria, residing in Albufeira, and, in this case, the sharing of the Light was done in the Parish Church of this city in an ecumenical ceremony co-presided over by the parish priest and the mayor.