The visit to Corsica and the opening of the cathedral are only a few days away.
French President Emmanuel Macron invited the 87-year-old pontiff to attend the opening ceremony of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on December 7.
However, Francis refused and decided that it would be better to go to Ajaccio, the capital of Corsica, where he will participate in a conference on the Catholic faith in the Mediterranean region, according to the Vatican.
The Pope did not want his participation to distract from the main purpose of the event, said the head of the French Bishops’ Conference (CEF).
“The star of the opening ceremony of Notre-Dame de Paris is the cathedral itself,” explained Eric de Moulins-Beaufort, head of the bishops’ conference.
Therefore, the Pope will go to Corsica, the fourth largest island in the Mediterranean, located 160 km south of mainland France.
This will be the Pope’s first visit to the island, where, according to the local Church, 90 percent from 350 thousand the population is Catholic, and religious traditions such as processions are deeply rooted.
Francis, who will celebrate his 88th birthday on December 17, has visited France twice since becoming head of the global Catholic Church in 2013.
In 2014, he visited Strasbourg, where he gave a speech at the European Parliament, and last year he went to Marseille, where he attended the meeting of the bishops of the Mediterranean region and met E. Macron.
He has yet to make a state visit to France, one of Europe’s main Catholic-majority countries, but neither has he made such visits to countries such as Spain, the United Kingdom or Germany.
The Argentine pontiff prefers to visit smaller or less established Catholic communities from Malta to Mongolia.
Source: www.15min.lt
