A 200-year-old fir tree in Val di
Ledro, close to Lombardy's Lake Garda, is facing an impending
danger, local residents say.
The 30-metre-high fir could be cut to become the Christmas tree
showcased in St Peter's Square at the Vatican during the
holidays.
But residents of Ledro have written to the pontiff, urging him
to avoid what they slammed as an "anachronistic disgrace", and a
petition on Change.org against the tree getting cut and taken to
the Vatican has been signed by 40,000 people so far.
Meanwhile a lawyer has taken legal action on behalf of local
committees and associations to prevent "this useless slaughter".
"It doesn't make sense to talk about the damage caused by
climate change if we perpetuate customs such as this one,
imposing the death of a secular fir tree, a symbol of those
millions of trees that are cut in Italy", they said.
The committees, including the Comitato Quaranta e tre milioni -
named after the 40 trees donated by the municipality of Ledro to
the Vatican and the three million trees cut every year in Italy
ahead of Christmas - led by Lorenzo Vescovi mentioned the
pontiff's encyclicals calling for the safeguard of the
environment, urging him to spare the fir and come visit the
valley.
Vescovi said the municipal administration earmarked 60,000 euros
"to provide the tree, an excessive sum that could be used for
other needs of the 5,000 residents of Ledro", he said, including
local healthcare and transport services.
The petition of Ledro's residents also suggested the Vatican
could "build a permanent artistic tree" recycling wood "from
trees that have fallen due to climate change".
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