The Latest: Pope in Morocco highlights Christian-Muslim ties
Posted March 30, 2019 9:32 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
RABAT, Morocco — The Latest on the Pope’s trip to Morocco (all times local):
2:25 p.m.
Pope Francis has arrived in Morocco for a trip aimed at highlighting the North African nation’s tradition of Christian-Muslim ties, while also letting him show solidarity with migrants at Europe’s door and tend to a tiny Catholic flock.
Francis will address the first two items Saturday, and the third when he wraps up the visit with a Mass and a meeting with Moroccan clergy on Sunday.
Moroccan King Mohammed VI was on hand to greet Francis when he landed under a pouring rain in Rabat, the Moroccan capital, for a 27-hour visit.
The highlight of the trip is likely to be Francis’ visit Saturday to the Mohammed VI Institute, a school of learning for imams that epitomizes Morocco’s efforts to promote a moderate brand of Islam and export it via preachers to Africa, the Middle East and Europe.
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10 a.m.
Pope Francis’s weekend trip to Morocco aims to highlight the North African nation’s tradition of Christian-Muslim ties while also letting him show solidarity with migrants at Europe’s door and tend to a tiny Catholic flock on the peripheries.
Francis will address the first two items on the agenda Saturday when he begins his 27-hour visit to Rabat, the Moroccan capital. He’ll tend to the third when he wraps up the visit with a Mass and a meeting with Moroccan clergy on Sunday.
The highlight of the trip is likely to be Francis’ visit Saturday to the Mohammed VI Institute, a school of learning for imams that epitomizes Morocco’s efforts to promote a moderate brand of Islam and export it via preachers to Africa, the Middle East and Europe.
Morocco, a Sunni Muslim kingdom of 36 million, reformed its religious policies and education to limit the spread of fundamentalism in 2004, following terrorist bombings in Casablanca that killed 43 people.
The Associated Press
