Morocco - Dialogue, brotherhood, service to the needy: Pope Francis animates the Moroccan people

01 April 2019

(ANS - Rabat) - "The ways of the mission do not pass through proselytism, which always leads to a blind alley, but through our way of being with Jesus and with others," said Pope Francis during the meeting with the together with the priests, men and women religious,  the lay faithful and the Ecumenical Council of Churches in the Cathedral of Rabat, Morocco. Therefore, "the problem is not when we are few in number, but when we are insignificant."

The meeting in the cathedral of Rabat was only one of the many significant moments of the Pope's apostolic journey to Morocco: just two days, but full of gestures and speeches.

Visiting the Mausoleum dedicated to Moahammed V, the Holy Father wrote: "I invoke Almighty God for the prosperity of the Kingdom of Morocco, asking Him to increase fraternity and solidarity between Christians and Muslims!"

In the same spirit, subsequently, Pope Francis re-launched, together with King Mohammed VI, his appeal for the recognition of the specific multi-religious character of Jerusalem.

Then, making another unprecedented gesture for a Pontiff, he visited a formation institute for Imams, wanted by the monarch to foster the spread of a tolerant and moderate Islam.

Certainly among the most touching meetings of the trip there was one with migrants housed by the Diocesan Caritas of Rabat. Pope Francis explained: "What is at stake is the face we want to give ourselves as a society and the value of every life ... We cannot forget that the progress of our peoples cannot be measured only by technological or economic development. It depends, above all, on the capacity to let oneself be moved by those who knock on the door and with eyes discredit and deprive all the false idols that mortgage and enslave life.”

Yesterday, finally, presiding over the most crowded Mass ever celebrated in the country, at the sports complex "Prince Moulay Abdellah", he once again recalled the value of brotherhood, starting from the parable of the Prodigal Son. "Instead of classifying ourselves on the basis of a moral, social, ethnic or religious condition, we can recognize that there is another condition that no one can erase or annihilate, since it is a pure gift: the free and inalienable gift of children being loved, awaited and celebrated by the Father."

Commenting on the apostolic journey, the Archbishop of Rabat, the Salesian Msgr. Cristobal Lopez Romero, underlined the depth and quality of the speeches given during the visit: "They are valid messages not only for Morocco, but for the whole world and for the universal Church."

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