Pope Francis, in Corsica, warns against religion that stokes divisions

Pope Francis urged Catholic priests on Sunday to guard against spiritual groups that stoke political divisions, speaking during a one-day visit to Corsica, the first by a pontiff to the French Mediterranean island.

At a conference on religion across the Mediterranean, the pontiff warned against varieties of spirituality that "seek self-aggrandisement by fuelling polemics, narrow-mindedness, divisions and exclusivist attitudes".

"The Church's pastors (are) called to be vigilant, to exercise discernment and to be constantly attentive to (these) popular forms of religiosity," the pope said.

Francis, making his third and probably last foreign trip of 2024, did not name any specific religious groups.

Corsica, like much of France, has a long history of lay Catholic associations, known as confraternities. They usually focus on spiritual matters but sometimes play a role in local politics.

The pope will spend about nine hours in Ajaccio, Corsica's capital, on Sunday. After attending the conference, he will celebrate an outdoor Mass with local Catholics and will also meet French President Emmanuel Macron.

Visiting places that often do not draw international attention is part of Francis' policy of highlighting people and problems in what he calls the "peripheries" of the world. Over his 11-year papacy he has still not visited most of the capitals of Western Europe, including Paris.

Macron had invited Francis to attend the Dec. 7 reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral, five years after a devastating fire nearly destroyed the medieval building. The pope decided not to go, and the two will instead meet briefly at Ajaccio's airport on Sunday before Francis heads back to Rome.

TURNS 88 ON TUESDAY

As is now normal, Francis, who turns 88 on Tuesday, left his plane on arrival in Corsica via an elevator and used a wheelchair while greeting officials on the tarmac.

During a brief ride in an open-air popemobile from the airport, the pope waved at crowds on the street and appeared on good form, though he still has a small bruise on his chin, the result of what the Vatican described as a minor fall in his bedroom last week.

Corsica, famed for its steep, mountainous terrain and as the birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte, is the fourth largest island in the Mediterranean. It is one of France's poorest regions, where about 20% of the population lives below the poverty line, according to government figures.

The Vatican estimates that about 81% of Corsica's population of 356,000 is Catholic. There are 83 priests on the island and some 30 Catholic nuns, it says.

Francis, originally from Argentina and the first pope from the Americas, has travelled widely around the Mediterranean since becoming pontiff in 2013, visiting Malta, the Greek island of Lesbos, and the Italian island of Lampedusa.