Vatican Christmas stamps celebrate Holy Year opening

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- With the Holy Year 2025 beginning on Christmas Eve, the Vatican's 2024 Christmas stamps feature the Jubilee message of hope as well as a prayer for peace.

Both Christmas stamps, set to go on sale Nov. 4, feature the logo of the Holy Year.

The 1.25-euro stamp features "the Christmas angel bearing a scroll that reads 'Glory to God' and 'Peace on Earth,'" excerpts from the hymn Luke 2:14 says was sung by the angels announcing the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, said a note from the Vatican philatelic office.

"It is the invocation that in recent years rises heartfelt from so many parts of the world crushed by violence and war," said the note, released Oct. 30.

The second stamp, with a value of 1.30 euros, shows the Baby Jesus in the manger with his hand raised in blessing. A scroll above his head has the Latin title of Pope Francis' bull of indiction, formally proclaiming the Holy Year: "Spes Non Confundit," which means "Hope does not disappoint."

The Vatican post office also sells two of each stamp in a booklet for collectors; the cover features a detail from Orazio Zecca da Montefortino's early 17th-century painting, the Adoration of the Shepherds, which is kept in the Rome Basilica of St. Mary Major.