By Joshua McElwee
AJACCIO, France (Reuters) -Pope Francis urged Catholic clergymen on Sunday to protect in opposition to non secular teams that stoke political divisions, talking throughout a one-day go to to Corsica, the primary by a pontiff to the French Mediterranean island.
At a convention on faith within the Mediterranean area, the pontiff warned in opposition to forms of spirituality that “search self-aggrandisement by fuelling polemics, narrow-mindedness, divisions and exclusivist attitudes”.
“The Church’s pastors (are) referred to as to be vigilant, to train discernment and to be always attentive to (these) standard types of religiosity,” the pope stated.
Francis, making his third and doubtless final international journey of 2024, didn’t identify any particular spiritual teams.
Corsica has a protracted historical past of lay Catholic associations, often called confraternities. They normally concentrate on non secular issues however typically play a job in native politics.
The pope spent about 9 hours in Ajaccio, Corsica’s capital. After attending the convention, he celebrated an outside Mass with what the Vatican estimated was a crowd of 15,000 Catholics. He additionally met French President Emmanuel Macron.
Visiting locations that always don’t draw worldwide consideration is a part of the pope’s coverage of highlighting individuals and issues in what he calls the “peripheries” of the world.
In the middle of his 11-year papacy Francis has nonetheless not visited many of the capitals of Western Europe, together with Paris.
Macron had invited Francis to attend the Dec. 7 reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral, 5 years after a devastating hearth practically destroyed the medieval constructing. The pope determined to not go, and the 2 as a substitute met briefly at Ajaccio airport on Sunday earlier than Francis headed again to Rome.
Francis thanked Macron for making the go to to Corsica to see him. Macron, who took the pope by the hand throughout a routine diplomatic present trade, stated it was a “nice honour” to return.
POPE TURNS 88 ON TUESDAY
Francis, who turns 88 on Tuesday, left his airplane on arrival in Corsica through an elevator and used a wheelchair whereas greeting officers on the tarmac, as is now regular when he travels.
Throughout a short trip in an open-air popemobile from the airport, the pope waved at crowds on the road and appeared on good type. He nonetheless had a small bruise on his chin, the results of what the Vatican described as a minor fall in his bed room earlier this month.
Corsica, famed for mountainous terrain and because the birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte, is the fourth largest island within the Mediterranean. It’s considered one of France’s poorest areas and about 20% of the inhabitants of 356,000 lives beneath the poverty line, in accordance with authorities figures.
The Vatican estimates that about 81% of Corsica’s inhabitants is Catholic. There are 83 clergymen on the island and a few 30 Catholic nuns, it says.
Francis, initially from Argentina and the primary pope from the Americas, has travelled extensively across the Mediterranean since changing into pontiff in 2013, visiting Malta, the Greek island of Lesbos, and the Italian island of Lampedusa.
