Frédéric Michel // Credits: FRED TANNEAU / AFP 7:54 a.m., March 29, 2024

Nearly 9 out of 10 Corsicans say they are Catholic. This is not a scientific study but figures communicated by the ecclesiastical authorities of the island. One thing is certain: the number of Corsicans claiming to be Christian is higher than the national average, but here, as everywhere in France, the practice is in decline.

The Christian tradition still reigning on the island of beauty. In Corsican villages, churches are still in flower, towns celebrate their saints and religious festivals are the occasion for large gatherings where all generations mingle. According to the Corsican Church, nearly 9 out of 10 islanders say they are Catholic. 

On the main square of Ajaccio under construction, a couple is hurrying. The weather is gloomy on the eve of this Easter weekend. The woman confirms the importance of Christianity on the island. “Compared to the continent, I think it’s more marked here in Corsica, we have more tradition,” she says. An old lady a little further away admits that she rarely goes to mass but insists on the Christian roots of the island. “Whether in Italy, Spain, Portugal and Corsica, the Mediterraneans are believers,” she explains. 

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“Faith is more visible”  

For the Bishop of Ajaccio, François Bustillo, named Cardinal in 2023 by Pope Francis, "the faith is more visible here, more sensitive, there are processions, songs and careful traditions. People from the continent watch with a certain nostalgia, a certain desire, these Christian traditions". For the clergyman, “these traditions remind us of our Christian roots.” 

In front of a large high school in Ajaccio, 16-year-old Marie, like many teenagers, wears jewelry and trinkets but the young girl also proudly reveals her baptism medal hanging around her neck. When we question her, she speaks without embarrassment in front of her friends about her faith and her Easter weekend program. "In my family we are religious and since I was born, religious holidays have been very important. Now I know that I am going to go to mass on Sunday and that on Monday I eat with my family, because it is an obligation. is the tradition but it doesn't bother me," explains the young woman. 

In Corsica, as on the continent, the practice is in sharp decline. Sunday mass no longer attracts. However, during major Christian holidays, many of them take part as a family in religious celebrations and various processions organized across the four corners of the island, with a singular and very Latin fervor.