ROME, Dec 15 — Pope Francis will visit Corsica, a stronghold of the Catholic faith, today, with locals hotly anticipating the first-ever trip by a pontiff to the French Mediterranean island.

Tens of thousands of people are expected to welcome Francis in Ajaccio, capital of what is popularly known as the “Ile de Beaute” (Island of Beauty).

The city was already decked out yesterday in decorations in the papal colours, yellow and white, while cars had been banished from central streets with parking bans.

Around 2,000 police reinforcements were sent to Ajaccio to beef up security.

Francis, 87, is expected to arrive around 9:00 am (0800 GMT) and leave just after 6:00 pm, the Vatican said.

His short trip, based around a congress on faith in the Mediterranean region, comes just a week after he snubbed the re-opening of Notre Dame cathedral in Paris five years after a devastating fire.

The relaunch was attended by a long list of bigwigs, royalty and world leaders, including US President-elect Donald Trump and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Francis declined the French government’s invitation to attend.

But he agreed to the Corsica trip hosted by the island’s popular, media-savvy cardinal, 56-year-old Francois-Xavier Bustillo.

“Corsica has been preparing to host (Francis) for a long time,” Bustillo told AFP this week.

Although “it’s a poor diocese... we’ll manage a welcome worthy of the pope” thanks to donations from businesses and individual churchgoers, he added.

Corsica’s prefect Jerome Filippini said that the visit would also cost the French state “several million euros” over its few hours.

Popemobile tour

Workers have repainted the facade of Ajaccio’s Notre-Dame de l’Assomption cathedral and built a wheelchair ramp for Francis, who has limited mobility, to enter by its main door.

New pews have been delivered and yellow-and-white flags hung behind the altar.

Near the cathedral, a colourful street-art style fresco by Ajaccio artists shows Francis in front of stained-glass windows and a map of Corsica.

Francis, who will turn 88 two days after his trip, will make two speeches and celebrate mass at an open-air theatre.

He is also expected to greet the crowds from his Popemobile in Ajaccio’s streets.

“We’re proud, it’s a privilege for (the pope) to come here rather than Paris,” said Paule Negroni, a 52-year-old bookshop owner.

Around 90 percent of Corsica’s 350,000 inhabitants are Catholic, according to the local Church.

Francis “comes to see poor people and children, he’s very popular,” said Helene Politi, who will be one of 250 people singing for Francis at mass.

The pope has made several visits around the Mediterranean, from the Greek island of Lesbos to Malta and Sicily.

The sea embodies several of the priorities of his papacy, chief among them inter-religious dialogue and welcoming migrants.

But this is the first visit by a pope to Corsica, a French region with a distinctive identity, fierce independence movement and a special constitutional status currently under discussion between Paris and local elected officials.

Troubled ties with France?

It is Francis’s third visit to France as pope, after eastern city Strasbourg in 2014 and Mediterranean port Marseille last year -- although none has been an official state visit to the country.

Some have seen a sign of his disapproval for French policy changes away from Church doctrine during his papacy, including gay marriage and an ongoing public debate about assisted dying.

There have been expressions of disappointment among French Catholics that he stayed away from Notre Dame’s grand reopening.

Francis’s defenders highlight that the pontiff, concerned with the world’s marginal people, largely shuns capital cities and sumptuous receptions.

Born in Argentina, he has never visited Spain, Britain or Germany as pope.

Even in the Vatican, he prefers closed-door audiences with pilgrims, homeless people or migrants to meetings with the powerful.

Francis is expected to meet with French President Emmanuel Macron just before his departure.

Recent health problems have not kept the pope from looking in good form in recent months.

The Corsica trip will be his 47th since his 2013 election and the third in 2024.

“I saw him on Saturday (December 7). He’s in good shape and happy to be coming,” cardinal Bustillo said. — AFP