The Vatican confirms the Pope's visit to Corsica on December 15

The Pope is expected at a conference on religiosity in the Mediterranean scheduled for Saturday December 14 and Sunday December 15 in Ajaccio. This will be the first visit to Corsica by a sovereign pontiff.

The Vatican confirms in a press release this Saturday, November 23, the Pope's visit to Ajaccio, in Corsica on December 15. The Pope is expected on the occasion of a conference on religiosity in the Mediterranean scheduled for Saturday December 14 and Sunday December 15 in Ajaccio.

“On December 15, Pope Francis will make an apostolic trip to the Mediterranean island of Corsica, in France, to close an international conference on popular religious traditions organized by the diocese of Ajaccio,” indicates the director of the press service of the Holy See, Matteo Bruni, assuring “to respond to the invitation of the civil and ecclesiastical authorities of the country”.

This trip will be his “47th apostolic trip abroad and the first visit of a pope to the French Mediterranean island”, specifies the press release.

A “very happy moment” for Corsica

After the official announcement made this Saturday in the middle of the day, the bells rang out at the Ajaccio church to greet the news.

Confirmation of the Pope's visit was eagerly awaited. On Thursday, Cardinal François-Xavier Bustillo, also bishop of Ajaccio, assured that “the pope should come” to a press conference, citing “administrative and diplomatic adjustments” to be resolved.

This Saturday, the bishop welcomed a “very happy moment for Corsica and for the Church” on BFMTV, after the confirmation of the pope's visit to France.

“We are receiving the Pope, it is not a trivial matter. It is a moment of grace, it is a moment of responsibility and it is a moment of hope for all of us,” he said.

Two speeches and a mass

According to the press release, the Argentine Jesuit will arrive on December 15 at 9 a.m. and leave shortly after 6 p.m. He will deliver two speeches and preside over a mass in the afternoon at the Casone green theater, before meeting with Emmanuel Macron.

The visit of Pope Francis, almost 88 years old, to Ajaccio will take place a week after the reopening of Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral, for which he had declined the invitation launched by Emmanuel Macron last year.

“The star of the reopening of Notre-Dame de Paris is Notre-Dame de Paris” and Francis did not want to “look away from him on this occasion”, justified the president of the conference of bishops of France, Mgr Éric de Moulins-Beaufort facing questions.

This will be Pope Francis' third visit to France after Strasbourg in 2014 and Marseille in 2023.