Via AC Wimmer
CNA Newsroom, Nov 23, 2024 / 09:00 am
The Holy See on Saturday showed the rumors that Pope Francis will adopt a one-day apostolic adventure to Corsica subsequent month — marking the first-ever papal discuss with to the island most renowned for being Napoleon Bonaparte’s birthplace.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni showed that the pope had accredited a call for participation from French civil and Church government to discuss with Ajaccio, the island’s capital, on Dec. 15.
The discuss with will probably be Pope Francis’ forty seventh apostolic adventure in another country and his 3rd discuss with to French territory, following journeys to Strasbourg in 2014 and Marseille in 2023.
On each events, the pontiff spoke about migration. This discuss with continues Pope Francis’ engagement with the Mediterranean area, following previous journeys to Lampedusa, Lesbos, and Malta, the place he emphasised the Church’s name to team spirit with migrants and coastal communities.
Pope Francis will probably be welcomed in Corsica’s capital, Ajaccio, by means of Cardinal François-Xavier Bustillo, who used to be made a cardinal by means of Francis ultimate yr and leads a diocese the place greater than 80% of the island’s 340,000 population determine as Catholic.
The adventure from Rome to Ajaccio’s Napoleon Bonaparte Airport will take simply over an hour — making this some of the pope’s shortest global journeys, protecting kind of 186 miles. Although technically a discuss with to French territory, the Mediterranean island lies nearer to Italy than to mainland France.
The pontiff’s time table comprises the concluding consultation of a congress devoted to Mediterranean standard religiosity within the morning adopted by means of a day Mass on the historical Position d’Austerlitz — identified in the community as “U Casone.”
The pope will pray the Angelus with bishops, monks, deacons, consecrated individuals, and seminarians at Ajaccio’s Cathedral of Our Woman of the Assumption.
The mountainous Mediterranean island is understood for its unique non secular traditions, together with a deep devotion to the Virgin Mary. The island’s unofficial anthem, “Diu vi Salvi Regina,” is at the start in accordance with a rendition of “Hail, Holy Queen.”
Reputable emblem for Pope Francis’ apostolic discuss with to Corsica on Dec. 15, 2024, that includes the motto “Jesus Went About Doing Just right” (Acts 10:38). The design highlights the Virgin Mary, Queen of Corsica, with symbolic Mediterranean and Christian components. Credit score: Vatican
Drawing from the Acts of the Apostles (10:38), the discuss with’s motto, “Jesus Went About Doing Just right,” displays what Vatican assets describe because the essentially pastoral nature of the pope’s presence a number of the devoted.
The adventure’s professional emblem prominently options Mary, honored as Queen of Corsica, set in opposition to Mediterranean blues and incorporating conventional Christian symbolism — together with a go representing religion in Christ and a descending line suggesting the Holy Spirit’s presence.
AC Wimmer (刘威猛) is the Information Editor for Europe and Asia at EWTN Information. The multilingual Australian, raised in Bavaria and South Africa, served as editor-in-chief of a number of information media retailers. A graduate in Philosophy and Chinese language Research from the College of Melbourne, the veteran journalist is a former Honorary Analysis Fellow in Communications at his alma mater and served at the Board of Caritas in Munich.
