Sunday, December 15, Pope Francis is going to Corsica for a historic visit, with the program of strolls in a popemobile, speeches and mass.
The visit is historic. Until now, no sovereign pontiff has set foot on the Isle of Beauty. Everything changes on Sunday December 15. Pope Francis will be in Corsica during a whirlwind visit, on the occasion of a congress on popular piety in the Mediterranean, a subject dear to him. Here is the program for this day.
François will land at 9 a.m. at Ajaccio airport on Sunday and will begin a busy visit. After a first stroll and walkabout in a popemobile on the seafront, he will give a speech at 10:15 a.m., which will close the conference on popular religiosity at the Palais des Congrès. “It is a theme that is very close to his heart, about which he speaks often” and on which “he perhaps believes he still has things to say,” recalled the Bishop of Limoges Pierre-Antoine Bozo. TF1 info.
A meeting with Emmanuel Macron planned
The Pope will then participate in an Angelus prayer, alongside bishops, priests, deacons and consecrated persons, in Notre-Dame-de-l’Assomption Cathedral at 11:20 a.m. In the afternoon, at 3:20 p.m., the Pope will go to Place d’Austerlitz (“U Casone”), to the Casone Green Theater, where he will preside over a mass. 15,000 people are expected for this highlight of the day. The program “Le Jour du Seigneur” on France 2 will offer a special edition on this occasion by broadcasting the mass live, announced France TV.
To ensure the security of the event, “nearly 2,000 police officers, gendarmes, civil security personnel” will be called in to support this “visit of a head of state to France”, indicated the prefect of CorsicaJerome Filippini. According to the memory of a senior security official in Corsica, this is “never seen before”, relates The Parisian.
The city of Ajaccio has made maps available tracing the Pope’s route during the day, in order to help the faithful who would like to follow him. François’ visit will end with a meeting with Emmanuel Macron, scheduled at Ajaccio airport at 5:30 p.m., reports France Blue. The pontiff will then take the plane to Rome at 6:15 p.m.