FRançois is too politically savvy not to know that he would create controversy. Visiting Corsica a week after the reopening of Notre-Dame de Paris, which he refused to attend, could only raise questions in France. Incomprehension. Frustration among some. Even spite that Ajaccio is worth a mass, but not Paris.
The officialization of the Pope's “pastoral” (and not “state”) trip to Napoleon's hometown on December 15 was late. Emmanuel Macron had to be made to swallow the refusal of the presidential invitation to Paris and his decision to immediately attend a conference in Corsica on popular piety in the Mediterranean. And even if the Vatican and the Cardinal Archbishop of Ajaccio Mgr François-Xavier Bustillo is doing everything to deny the idea, it is impossible not to see it as a form of snub.
In Strasbourg in 2014, Francis came to the European Parliament without setting foot in the Alsatian cathedral. In 2023, he said he was coming “not to France, but to Marseille”. And at a time when Corsica was hesitant about its status in the Republic, the Pope went there after having once again ignored Paris.
Emmanuel Macron will therefore meet the sovereign pontiff in Ajaccio. Not like we're going to Canossa but almost
He is of course consistent with himself. The Argentine Jesuit always preferred the “peripheries” to capitals, especially those of well-off countries. Opponent of all “worldliness”, Bergoglio judged that he would not be at his place in Paris, doubtless fearing to serve as an ornament to a great spectacle, to endorse politicians, or to steal the show at Notre-Dame . And we can understand why he preferred to go to an island of Beauty historically linked to the Vatican and where popular religion is still well rooted.
But Francis cannot forget that he is also head of state with the duties associated with it. Emmanuel Macron, swallowing his disappointment, will therefore meet the sovereign pontiff in Ajaccio. Not like we go to Canossa but almost. As for the French people, whether they practice or not, they will celebrate without the Pope the happiness of finding their cathedral.
But Notre-Dame is not just from Paris. She is from France and the rest of the world, and in particular from a West whose Christians have never needed so much reassurance to see their faltering faith reinforced. And if their pope judges that they do not need him, neither they nor all those from the entire planet who, believers or not, make the pilgrimage to the Isle of the City, it is difficult to agree with him.
