Pope Francis is scheduled to travel to Morocco at the end of March. During his two-day visit he will engage in interreligious dialogue as well as visit migrants, address the country’s bishops and affirm the Catholics in their faith.
By John Waters
With Pope Francis’ visit to Morocco now only a month away, the Archbishop of Rabat has spoken about the itinerary for the Pope’s trip as well as his own personal hopes for the visit. Archbishop Cristobal Lopez has been Archbishop of Rabat, the capital city, since 2018. Although born in Spain, Archbishop Lòpez has been ministering in Morocco since 2003. There are about 50,000 Catholics in Morocco, mostly European expatriates.
A visit full of meaning
Archbishop Lopez says that the visit of Pope Francis will be a great event for the church but also “a very demanding two day visit full of meaningful meetings.” Pope Francis is due to visit both Rabat and Casablanca. The itinerary for the visit includes a visit to a migrant centre, run by the charity Caritas, and a social centre run by the Daughters of Charity. There will also be a visit to the Mohammed VI institute, which oversees the training and formation of Imans, to serve the local Muslim community. The Pope is also expected to meet with King Mohamed VI as well as the country’s Bishops.
Catholic population
Although the catholic population in Morocco is small, Archbishop Lopez says that “The Pope will come to Morocco as a universal pastor, father of all Catholic Christians, a person of good will who wants to meet everyone. And for everyone, he presents himself as a servant of hope. He comes to fill us with hope, to give us strength, to recover from discouragement, to instill enthusiasm, he comes to announce the Gospel to us.”
