Pope Francis pleaded Sunday in Corsica, a French island in the Mediterranean where he is making a whirlwind visit, for a secularism that is not “static and fixed”, before an open-air mass and an interview with French President Emmanuel Macron.
A week after having snubbed the reopening of Notre-Dame de Paris, despite the invitation of the Head of State, the Pope arrived from Rome at 8:50 a.m. local at Ajaccio airport, under a blue sky.
The Holy Father in a wheelchair, with still a bruise on his face, the result of a fall when he got out of bed a few days ago, was welcomed by the Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau and a small group of Corsican children , to the sound of Corsican music.
In the streets of the main city of this island of 350,000 inhabitants, 80% of whom are Catholics, according to the Vatican, some 12,000 faithful according to the prefecture greeted the sovereign pontiff, who blessed several babies and children and a 108-year-old lady during of his stroll in a popemobile on the seafront.
“It is certain that to come here is exceptional, to come a few days before Christmas,” testified Xavier Luiggi, a 55-year-old Corsican from Toulon, to AFPTV: “He could not do a best gift to all Corsicans”.
Speaking at the closing of a congress on “popular religiosity in the Mediterranean”, the pope then defended “a concept of secularism which is not static and fixed, but evolving and dynamic”.
A secularism “capable of adapting to different or unforeseen situations, and of promoting constant cooperation between civil and ecclesiastical authorities for the good of the whole community, each remaining within the limits of its competences and its space “, he said in front of religious people and theologians.
He also warned against “the risk” that “popular piety is used, instrumentalized by groups who intend to strengthen their identity in a polemical manner by fueling particularisms, oppositions, exclusionary attitudes”, in a message that could address Corsican nationalists.
– Clergy in pink –
In Corsica, a new far-right nationalist movement, Mossa Palatina, prides itself in particular on “reaffirming the primacy of Catholicism” and assures that “Corsica will never be Lampedusa”, this Italian island where many migrants who have crossed the Mediterranean disembark . A speech that is the opposite of that of the Pope, who defends the reception of migrants.
The Pope must deliver a second speech at the cathedral from 11:20 a.m. then he will participate in a mass at 3:30 p.m., which should bring together 9,000 people at the Casone green theater. He will leave shortly after 6:00 p.m. (5:00 p.m. GMT), according to the Holy See, after an interview at the airport with Emmanuel Macron.
Yellow and white banners (the papal colors) in the streets, facade of the Notre-Dame de l'Assomption cathedral repainted, massive parking bans, 2,200 reinforcements deployed for security: the city had prepared urgently, after the confirmation late, at the end of November, of this visit.
The Argentine Jesuit, who will celebrate his 88th birthday two days after this trip, was invited to Corsica by Mgr François-Xavier Bustillo, 56, very popular and media-friendly bishop of Ajaccio, whom he had created cardinal in September 2023.
On the outskirts of the cathedral, a colorful street art-style fresco, created by a collective of Ajaccian artists, represents François against a backdrop of stained glass windows and a colorful map of Corsica.
For this third Sunday of Advent, the clergy will adorn themselves with “pink (…) a bright color which will remind us of the journey between the purple of Advent and the white of Christmas”, explains Father Georges Nicoli, priest of the Notre-Dame de Lourdes parish in Bastia.
From Malta to Sicily via the Greek island of Lesbos, Francis has visited the Mediterranean basin on several occasions, which concentrates several priorities of his pontificate, such as interreligious dialogue or the reception of migrants.
The head of the Catholic Church has already visited French territory twice since the start of his pontificate in 2013, to Strasbourg in 2014 and to Marseille in September 2023, but has never made a state visit there. .
This trip to Corsica is his 47th international trip since his election and the third in 2024.
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