The Pope will travel to Corsica on Sunday December 15 for his 47th trip, after refusing the president’s invitation to the reopening ceremony of Notre-Dame de Paris.
Pope Francis will visit Corsica on Sunday December 15. The Vatican confirmed on Saturday November 23 this 47th trip outside Italy, which takes place a week late. A delay which is not without explanations. He will arrive on the Isle of Beauty a week after the reopening ceremonies of Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral… where Francis refused to go!
A very controversial trip, therefore, reports Le Figaro. For many, this short stay in Ajaccio is a snub. Yet it is a historic visit. No pontiff has traveled Corsica. And this announcement puts an end to several weeks of suspense: “administrative and diplomatic adjustments” had to be made before formalizing the arrival, explains Mgr Bustillo, archbishop of Ajaccion. A trip that will take place over the day. The pope, aged 87, is expected to arrive at Ajaccio international airport at 9 a.m., and leave at 6:15 p.m., shortly after the departure ceremony. According to the program, Francis will deliver a speech at 11:20 a.m., and an open-air mass will take place in the afternoon, at which thousands of Corsicans are expected.
Reaching believers “long despised by the Church”
What motivated his visit to the Isle of Beauty was above all the congress “Popular religiosity in the Mediterranean” at the Ajaccio Convention and Exhibition Centre. This is a pastoral theme that is dear to him, indicates Le Figaro : popular piety refers to simple and ancient forms of expression of the Catholic faith, such as public processions behind statues of the Virgin or local saints, or pilgrimages. For the pope, these are forms of spirituality “of common people which have long been despised in the Church”, explains the newspaper. If he wants to be a reforming pontiff on several points, he remains traditional on this theme, since for him it is a question of reaching populations ignored by the Catholic Church, all the more since the reforms of the Church in the 1960s. Added to this is Francis’ friendship for Cardinal Bustillo, 55, archbishop of Ajaccio whom he appointed last year.
If these motivations explain the trip to Corsica, they do not justify his refusal to go to Paris. Why prefer this event rather than the long-awaited reopening of Notre-Dame? François did not specify the reasons why he decided to skip the Parisian ceremony. However, he had received an invitation from the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron.
The ceremony must take place on December 8, including the consecration of the new altar by Monsignor Ulrich. The famous cathedral burned on April 15, 2019, in a fire which destroyed its frame, its roof, and its spire. However, the work is not entirely finished: the lead covering of the base of the spire and the reinstallation of the statues of the apostles and saints are planned for 2025.