Pope Francis, visiting Corsica for the first time, praised the island’s people for their faith and strong tradition of popular piety, calling them “an admirable example in Europe.”
On Sunday, December 5, thousands of Corsicans filled the streets of Ajaccio, the capital of the Mediterranean island located south of France, dressed in colorful, centuries-old confraternity costumes, to welcome the first pope ever to visit the island, where 90 percent of the population professes their Catholic faith.
The Pope arrived after a 75-minute early morning flight from Rome, where he received a brief official welcome at Ajaccio’s Napoleon Bonaparte airport. A guard of honor surrounded him, and the French and Vatican national anthems were played. He was greeted by Ajaccio’s beloved bishop, Cardinal François-Xavier Bustillo, and the Vatican nuncio to France, Archbishop Celestino Migliore. He was then driven to the Palais des Congrès to deliver the keynote address at the closing session of an international conference on “Popular Religiosity in the Mediterranean.”
Corsica’s faith has long been nurtured by confraternities, which have experienced a revival in recent decades. Today, about 100 confraternities, comprising 4,000 members, remain active in the island’s religious and cultural life. Each group, identified by distinctive attire and banners, serves both the Church and the community through acts like accompanying funerals and celebrating weddings. Music is also a vital part of their cultural identity, as Francis discovered when he entered the congress hall and was greeted by their singing with great gusto—though at one point, the thunderous applause of the crowd drowned out the performance.
Francis, who will turn 88 on Tuesday, was welcomed by Cardinal Bustillo, 56, the city’s highly popular charismatic bishop. During his address at the conference, the cardinal shared with the pope that participants “discovered how popular piety enables faith to be placed within the public sphere without creating social tensions,” he said. “The fact of physically walking along a certain route (in the neighbourhood or in a village) and carrying with you a statue or image of a saint or the Virgin Mary underlines the visibility of our faith. The movement of the embodiment promotes the visual aspect. This simple dimension helps us to remember the simplicity of our life,” he told the pope. “We respond to our spiritual vocation with intelligence, certainly, but also with the heart and with the body. In the 21st-century, our society needs to rediscover simplicity and freedom to move forward. Our social system has become complex and harsh. Simple practices of faith, without strategies or tactics, can help us rediscover cohesiveness regarding the essential.”
Pope Francis responded in Italian, a language most people here understand due to Corsica’s historical ties to Italy and its proximity to Sardinia. Between the Mediterranean and the Near East, “a unique religious experience was born, bound to the God of Israel, who revealed himself to humanity and began a continuous dialogue with his people,” he said. “This dialogue culminated in the singular presence of Jesus, the Son of God, who revealed the face of the Father—his and ours—in a definitive way, and brought to fulfillment the covenant between God and humanity.”
The pope reflected on the enduring impact of the Christian faith over 2,000 years, noting that while Christianity once shaped political and cultural life, today, particularly in Europe, “the question of God seems to be retreating as people become increasingly indifferent to his presence and his word.” He warned against “hasty considerations and ideological judgments” that would “pit Christian culture and secular culture against one another.”
In a message that appeared to be address to the whole of Europe, Francis said “it is important to acknowledge a mutual openness between these two horizons [meaning the Christian and secular cultures]” because today “believers are increasingly open to, and at peace with the possibility of practising their faith without imposing it, being a leaven within the world and in their own communities.” On the other hand, he said, “Non-believers or those who have distanced themselves from religious practice are not strangers to the search for truth, justice and solidarity. Often, even if they do not belong to any religion, they carry in their hearts a great thirst, a search for meaning, which leads them to ponder the mystery of life and to seek out core values for the common good.”
In this context, he emphasized “the importance of popular piety,” stating that “on the one hand, popular piety points back to the Incarnation as the foundation of the Christian faith, which always finds expression in a people’s culture, history, and languages, and is transmitted through the symbols, customs, rites, and traditions of a living community.” On the other hand, he noted that “such piety also attracts and involves persons who are on the threshold of faith. Although they may not practice their faith regularly, popular piety enables them to experience their roots and affections, as well as to encounter ideals and values that they find useful for their own lives and for society.”
Francis went on to explain that “by expressing faith through simple gestures and a symbolic language rooted in the culture of the people, popular piety reveals God’s presence in the living flesh of history, strengthens the relationship with the Church and often becomes an occasion for encounter, cultural exchange and celebration. In this sense, its practices give life to the relationship with the Lord and to the content of the faith, enabling faith to become truly incarnate in life and history.”
The pope told the assembly about how Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)—a French mathematician, philosopher, and Catholic writer—“in a dialogue with a fictional interlocutor about how to come to faith, states that it is not enough to multiply the proofs of God’s existence or to make great intellectual efforts. Rather, one must look to those who have already made great progress on the path, because they began with small steps.”
Reiterating what he wrote in Evangelii Gaudium (“The Joy of the Gospel”), the Argentine pope said: “popular piety enables us to see how the faith, once received, becomes embodied in a culture and is constantly passed on,” and as a result, “it is an active evangelizing power which we must not underestimate: to do so would be to fail to recognize the work of the Holy Spirit.”
While strongly endorsing popular piety, the Jesuit pope emphasized the need for pastors to remain vigilant “through careful theological and pastoral discernment” in this area. He warned of two risks. First, “manifestations of popular piety can be limited to their external or folkloristic aspects without leading to an encounter with Christ, or be contaminated by fatalistic or superstitious notions.” Second, “popular devotion can be used or exploited by groups that seek self-aggrandizement by fueling polemics, narrow-mindedness, divisions, and exclusivist attitudes.”
Pope Francis also highlighted that, “when popular piety is successful in communicating the Christian faith and the cultural values of a given people, uniting hearts and building community, it bears great fruit that has an effect on society as a whole, including relations between civil and political institutions and the Church.”
Also, the pope added, “faith may not be reduced to a private affair, restricted to the sanctuary of the individual’s conscience.” Instead, “authentic faith calls for commitment, witness, promotion of human development, social progress and care for creation, all in the name of charity.” He recalled how “the profession of the Christian faith and models of community life inspired by the Gospel and the sacraments have given rise to countless works of solidarity, including the establishment of institutions such as hospitals, schools, care centres – there are many in France! – that have enabled the faithful to assist the needy and to contribute to the advancement of the common good.”
He emphasized that “popular piety, processions and rogations, the charitable activities of Confraternities, the communal prayer of the Holy Rosary and other forms of devotion can nurture ‘constructive citizenship’ on the part of Christians. At the same time, on the common ground of boldly carrying out good works, believers can also find themselves cooperating with secular, civil and political institutions in the service of each person, beginning with the poor, for an integral human growth and the care of this beautiful island.”
Pope Francis concluded his talk by congratulating his Corsican audience, stating that popular piety, deeply rooted in Corsica, highlights the values of faith while also expressing the distinctiveness, history, and culture of the people. He emphasized that a constant dialogue between the religious and secular spheres, and between the Church and civil and political institutions, can take place in this interweaving, without confusion, of both. “You have taken this path for a long time and are an admirable example in Europe. Keep moving forward!” he urged.
The crowd applauded enthusiastically after his speech and sang as he made his way to the cathedral. Under a bright sun on this island, once called “Kallistos” (“most beautiful”) by the Greeks, the streets were lined with cheering crowds, many waving from windows, as Francis traveled from the palace to the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption in his popemobile. Upon arrival, he was serenaded by local singers and greeted by women dressed in blue, each holding a flower. On his way there, he stopped to greet a 108-year-old Corsican woman and blessed a baby, much to the crowd’s delight.
Bishops from France, Spain, and Italy, along with Corsican priests, religious members, and catechists, all welcomed Francis with song and applause as he entered the cathedral. He shared a simple message, saying, “Let us never forget that it is about the Lord. It is not about me, but about God” (italics in the original text). He urged them to “care for yourself”—meaning their own spiritual lives—and to “care for others.” He urged priests present to “always forgive” when administering the sacrament of Reconciliation, adding that in his 53 years as a priest, he has never refused absolution to anyone.
The pope then invited the congregation to join him in invoking the help of Our Lady, known as “Madunnuccia” in Corsican, under the title of Mother of Mercy, for peace in the world.
Let us lift up to her our plea for peace: peace for all the lands that surround this sea, particularly the Holy Land where Mary gave birth to Jesus. Peace for Palestine, for Israel, for Lebanon, for Syria, and for the whole Middle East! Peace for Myanmar. And may the Holy Mother of God obtain the peace so greatly desired by the Ukrainian and Russian peoples. War is always a defeat. Peace to the whole world!
Before taking the 50-minute return flight to Rome, the first pope to visit Corsica concluded his time on the island by presiding at Mass for about 15,000 people in Place d’Austerlitz, the square dominated by the statue of the city’s most famous son—Napoleon—who, on this occasion, overlooked the altar.
At Mass, wearing a pink cope, the traditional vestment color for Gaudete Sunday, the pope encouraged his congregation—including members of the 100 confraternities in their colorful robes—to live their faith “with joyful expectation” during this Advent season. “The Lord’s presence in our midst is a cause for celebration; it fills everyone’s future with hope,” he said. “In the company of Jesus, we discover the authentic joy of living and become signs of the hope that our world so eagerly seeks. The first of those signs is peace.”
Speaking of peace, Francis drew the congregation’s attention to the present day.
Brothers and sisters, sadly, there are many reasons for sorrow and despair in today’s world: extreme poverty, wars, corruption and violence. Nevertheless, the word of God never fails to encourage us. Despite sufferings that affect nations and peoples, the Church proclaims an unshakable hope that does not disappoint, because the Lord has come and dwells in our midst. And in his coming, our efforts to work for peace and justice find inexhaustible strength.
Pope Francis was particularly delighted by the sight of so many children and publicly remarked that the only other place where he had seen more children was in Timor-Leste. “Have children, have children,” he said, “this will be your joy and your glory.”
At the end of Mass, Pope Francis thanked everyone, stressing, “for this entire day, I have felt at home!” He extended his blessing to “the sick, the elderly who are alone, and prisoners,” and prayed that the Gospel of Jesus Christ would help the Corsicans “have hearts open to the world.” He concluded by wishing them “a good journey to Christmas.”
At the airport, before leaving Corsica, Pope Francis met privately with French President Macron, who presented him with a book on the restoration of Notre-Dame Cathedral, recently reopened after the 2019 fire.
