Pope, in Corsica, praises popular piety, encourages childbearing
December 16, 2024
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CWN Editor's Note: Pope Francis made an apostolic journey to Ajaccio, Corsica, on December 15 for a conference on popular religiosity in the Mediterranean region.
“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,” the Pope said during his address at the conference. “Popular piety, which is deeply rooted here in Corsica – it is not superstition – highlights the values of faith and at the same time expresses the distinctiveness, the history and the culture of this people.”
Later, at an outdoor Mass for Gaudete Sunday, the Pope preached that “our joy is not a fleeting consolation that helps us to forget life’s sorrows, no, it is not illusionary.” Rather, “it is the fruit of the Spirit, born of faith in Christ the Savior.”
“Have children, have children, who will be your joy, your consolation in the future,” the Pontiff added later in his homily. “This is the truth: I have never seen so many children. Only in Timor-Leste were there as many as this.”
The Pontiff’s homily lasted for 16 minutes (video)—considerably longer than the ten-minute limit that he recently said priests should never violate.
Departing from custom, the Pope did not address questions from journalists during the 50-minute return flight to Rome.
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