Pope Francis holds a grand Mass on his first visit to Corsica

2024-12-15 22:10:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Pope Francis celebrated Mass on Sunday before thousands of worshipers in Corsica, a bastion of the Catholic faith, the first ever trip by a Holy Father to the French Mediterranean island. The ceremony, attended by about 9,000 people in person and watched by a similar number of worshipers on giant screens, according to local authorities, was the culmination of a day-long trip where Pope Francis touched on issues from France's state secularism to calls for peace in the East. Middle. "There is a combination of solemnity, sincerity, emotions," said Fabienne Mazza, one of the 300 singers who took part in the mass. "His presence here makes it difficult for us to control our emotions."

The Holy Father arrived in the papal plane on Sunday morning before taking to the crowded streets of the capital Ajaccio in the special papal vehicle, blessing children, a 108-year-old woman and even a pizza held by a restaurant owner.

Chants of "evivva u papa" ("long live the Pope" in Corsican) could be heard from the crowd.

With a scar still visible on his face from a fall a few days ago, Pope Francis nevertheless appeared in good spirits, smiling throughout the day's activities. Local authorities said around 12,000 people had turned out to greet the Pope in the streets.

"This is extraordinary, I'm moved, it's a magical moment, a rare chance," said Solene Pianacci, a 44-year-old school principal, at one of Francis' stops at the capital's cathedral.

The 87-year-old pope's first stop was to deliver the closing remarks at a conference on religion in the Mediterranean. He called for "a concept of secularism that is not static and fixed, but evolving and dynamic." The comments touched on a sensitive subject for France. Strict state secularism was originally established to curb the influence of the Church in public life, but is now more often used against symbols of Islam such as the Muslim headscarf or hijab.

Pope Francis later called for peace "throughout the Middle East," but also for "the Ukrainian people and the Russian people," and prayed for the cyclone-hit French Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte.

Meeting with President Macron

Ajaccio was decorated in the papal colors, yellow and white, while cars were banned from the streets and driven from the central streets with parking bans. About 2,000 police reinforcements were sent to Ajaccio to consolidate security measures.

Francis' short trip comes just a week after the opening of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris five years after a devastating fire he did not attend. The ceremony for its opening was attended by world leaders, including Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky.

But he agreed to the trip to Corsica organized by the island's popular cardinal, 56-year-old Francois-Xavier Bustillo. Dressed in a traditional pink robe for the third Sunday of Advent, Francis thanked Bustillo during Mass for "this day when (he) felt like he was at home." The cardinal responded that the visit had been a "real blessing for Corsica," where the local Church says about 90 percent of the 350,000 residents are Catholic.

The Holy Father's last meeting after Mass was a meeting with President Emmanuel Macron at the airport before his departure. According to a French media, Mr. Macron presented the Pope with a book that describes in detail the restoration of Notre Dame.

Sunday marked Francis' third visit to France as pope, following the eastern city of Strasbourg in 2014 and the Mediterranean port of Marseille last year -- although neither has been an official state visit to the country.

His allies point out that the pope, who focuses on the world's poorest people, largely avoids capitals and lavish receptions.

not "separation"

The visit to Corsica was his 47th trip outside the Vatican since he was elected in 2013 and his third in 2024. Some of those visits have been around the Mediterranean, from the Greek island of Lesbos to Malta and Sicily.

But this is the first visit by a pope to Corsica, a French region with a distinct identity, a strong penchant for autonomy and a special constitutional status currently being debated between Paris and local elected officials.

In his address on Sunday morning, Pope Francis warned against religious sentiments being "exploited by self-indulgent groups by fueling controversy, narrow-mindedness, division and exclusionary attitudes".

The message comes as a new far-right Corsican nationalist movement, Mossa Palatina, campaigns to "reaffirm the primacy of Catholicism" and ensure "Corsica never becomes another Lampedusa" - the Italian island where they landed many migrants hoping to reach Europe. The Pope himself has long defended the position that immigrants should be welcomed./VOA