ROME – When Pope Francis visits the French Mediterranean island of Corsica Sunday, it’ll be a chance to reiterate his well-known positions on migration and climate, and to empower the appeal among youth of local confraternities and popular devotion in the region.
Francis will visit Corsica, one of 18 regions in France, making a brief, 10-hour visit to the capital city of Ajaccio.
The daytrip will mark the pope’s 47th international trip and the first-ever papal visit to the island, which is under French control but is currently embroiled in a campaign for greater autonomy that could see significant steps forward in the near future.
Corsica will be the pope’s third visit to France, after a 2014 visit to Strasbourg to address the European Parliament and the Council of Europe, and a 2023 trip to Marseille to close the annual “Mediterranean Meetings,” an event that draws civil and ecclesial leaders from throughout the region to discuss challenges such as migration, climate and war.
The first appointment will be to close a congress titled, “Popular Religiosity in the Mediterranean.” According to a flier on the Diocese of Ajaccio’s website, the gathering includes speeches on evangelization, living popular religiosity amid a strict French national policy of laicité (Church/State separation), and popular piety and how it is lived in specific local contexts.
Throughout his pastoral career, Pope Francis has been an avid promoter of popular devotion, which also has played a significant role in the development of Corsican history and culture, in which street processions, pilgrimages, and large celebrations for religious feasts are common.
Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, to whom the island’s national anthem is dedicated, is also widespread.
Father Bernard Plance, ecclesiastical advisor for the French Embassy to the Holy See, told journalists at a recent media roundtable on the papal trip that the past decade has seen significant growth of local confraternities, especially among young people.
Many of them have launched various initiatives to promote the pope’s Mediterranean agenda, especially following his 2023 visit to Marseille, Plance said, adding that the Corsica trip “will be an opportunity to re-launch these pastoral initiatives” and to encourage youth to keep getting involved.
Notably, Francis in his 11-year papacy, while traveling to France three times, has never visited the capital city of Paris. He even skipped the Dec. 8 inauguration ceremony of the reopening of the cathedral of Notre Dame, which was attended by various global elites and heads of state, including Donald Trump.
Plance said the pope’s choice not to attend the Paris reopening of Notre Dame, after a 2019 fire caused extensive damage, and to instead visit a region fighting for its autonomy, was not politically motivated, but rather reflected the pontiff’s affinity for the peripheries and his desire to promote “spiritual culture.”
“Spiritual culture is very important, and to go to Corsica is giving attention to French culture at the base,” he said, saying, “We French must be aware of this.”
Corsica is one of the poorest regions of France, with some 19 percent of the local population living below the poverty line. Its economy is primarily dependent on agriculture, craftsmanship and tourism.
It is also the most mountainous island of the Mediterranean, and for the past few decades has been in the throes of an effort among separatists to promote greater autonomy, with a particular attachment to local culture and linguistic identity.
Due to the island’s spiritual heritage and geographic location, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said issues such as the environment and the importance of local spirituality and popular devotion will likely be key themes of the pope’s outing.
The Diocese of Ajaccio is led by Cardinal François-Xavier Bustillo, a Spanish-born French prelate and member of the Conventual Franciscan Friars who has led Ajaccio since 2021 and is considered a close papal ally.
Bustillo is the author of the book Witness, Not Officials, which Francis gifted to priests at his Holy Thursday Chrism Mass in 2022, and who was created a cardinal by the pope a year later, in 2023.
After arriving Sunday morning, the pope will address the closing session of the “Popular Religiosity” conference and will then hold a meeting with local bishops, clergy, religious and seminarians at the island’s Cathedral of Our Lady oof the Assumption.
Francis will preside over Mass at the “Place d’Austerlitz” and will hold a private meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Ajaccio airport before boarding his return flight to Rome that evening.
He is expected to hold a brief in-flight press conference on his way back to Rome and is scheduled to land around 7p.m. local time.
In an interview with Vatican News, the Vatican’s official state-run information platform, Bustillo said the pope’s visit will be primarily to boost the conference on popular religiosity, which will draw bishops from Sicily, Sardinia, Spain and France.
“It’s a moment where we want to share among ourselves what we are, what we experience, and these popular religious traditions that exist in our countries,” he said, saying, “Instead of viewing some popular traditions as mere folklore, it’s about seeing them as an opportunity to evangelize through the popular traditions passed down to us by our ancestors.”
Pope Francis’s presence for the event, he said, will be an encouragement to “the mission” as promoted through the methods of popular devotion, such as processions, singing, and feasts.
“During popular gatherings, there is an encounter with others, possibly people from all walks of life—right-wing, left-wing, friends, enemies – all united by faith. I believe this is important. In my land and in my diocese, these traditions bring people together,” Bustillo said.
He described the local church as having “more serenity” with civil authorities than on mainland France, saying Corsica is in a “strategic position” in the Mediterranean, especially given the pope’s own regional agenda.
“We want civil and ecclesiastical authorities to be able to dialogue. Today, we cannot be institutional enemies,” Bustillo said, calling for “responsibility, a commitment for the good of our people.”
“If we stay among ourselves, we forget the people, the community. And the community needs civil authorities committed to their welfare, and spiritual authorities who think of the soul, reminding them that there are values, ideals, and a shared vision, even if each authority has its own role,” he said.
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