The logo and motto of the Pope’s visit to Corsica
On Sunday 15 December Francesco will be in Corsica. He will be the first Pope to visit the island, the fourth largest in the Mediterranean after Sicily, Sardinia and Cyprus, birthplace of Napoleon and a backdrop of natural beauty among forests, beaches and mountains.
The visit, already anticipated in recent days by the French-speaking press and by the bishop of the capital Ajaccio himself, the Cardinal François-Xavier Bustillowas confirmed by the director of the Vatican Press Office, Matteo Bruni: «Welcoming the invitation of the civil and ecclesiastical authorities of the country, Pope Francis will make an apostolic journey to Ajaccio on December 15th, on the occasion of the conclusion of the Congress “La religiosité populaire en Méditerranée”».
The occasion of the visit, as stated in the Vatican declaration, is the congress in the Diocese of Ajaccio on “Popular religiosity in the Mediterranean” which will see the presence of bishops of Italy, France and Spain and other neighboring countries. A theme, that of popular religious traditions, very dear to the Argentine Pope since the days of his ministry in Buenos Aires, also central in the historic conference of the Latin American and Caribbean episcopate of Aparecida, and to which the Pontiff dedicated ample space in the exhortation Evangelii Gaudium. A theme that is also very present in Corsica, where every year the Catholic faithful, around 90% of the 355 thousand inhabitants, experience rites, street pilgrimages and demonstrations of devotion, in particular for the feast of the Madonna della Misericordia, better known as the “Madunnuccia ”, patron saint of Ajaccio.
As regards the day’s program, the Pope will depart from Rome-Fiumicino airport at 7.45am to arrive at Ajaccio International Airport at 9am, where the official welcome will be held. At 10.15 he will then be in the “Palais des Congrès et d’Exposition d’Ajaccio” for the congress to whose participants he will address a speech.
About an hour later the Pontiff will move into the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta to meet bishops, priests, deacons, consecrated persons and seminarians and pray the Angelus with them. A speech by the Pope is also expected on this occasion.
In the afternoon, at 3.30 pm, Mass will be held in the church “Place d’Austerlitz”, the large park called “U Casone” in memory of an old building, a place where, according to tradition, Napoleon went as a child. And right in Place d’Austerlitz stands a large statue dedicated to Bonaparte.
The Eucharistic celebration will be followed, at 5.30 pm, by the Pope’s meeting with the French president Emmanuel Macron, pat Ajaccio Airport. There, once the farewell ceremony is over, the flight to Rome is scheduled at 6.15pm with landing in Fiumicino at 7.05pm.
As mentioned, It is absolutely the first visit of a Pontiff to Corsica; third in France for Pope Francis after short stops in Strasbourg in 2014 and Marseille in 2023.
The Pope will be welcomed by Cardinal Bustillo56 years old, Conventual Franciscan, Spanish from Pamplona but naturalized French. Since 2021 he has led the Corsican Church following the nomination received from Francis who, in 2022, had given away copies of Bustillo’s book Non-official witnesses to all the priests who participated in the Chrism Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica. In 2023 the Pope created Bustillo cardinal in the consistory of 30 September.
In a short video published on the official account of the Corsican Catholic Church, cardinals Bustillo and Dominique Mamberti, also a native of the island, current Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, spoke of the “very good news” for the Pontiff’s visit. «We will do everything possible to give the Holy Father an exceptional welcome», explain the two cardinals, «We are counting on you to begin the preparations, to join all forces so that this moment, this day, remains in our memory and in our cultural, spiritual and emotional heritage.”
