On Saturday 21st march 2015, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa arrived in Morocco for his first pastoral visit, accompanied by the Very Reverend Archimandrite Theodoros Dridakis, Mega Ecclesiarch of the Throne. At the “Mohamed V” airport in Casablanca, His Beatitude was officially welcomed by the local Metropolitan Alexios of Carthage, their Excellencies the Ambassadors of Greece Mr. Platon Alexios Hatzimihalis and of Egypt Mr. Ahmed Gamal el Din, Attachés of the Greek Embassy in Rabat, the Chairman of the Hellenic Community in Morocco Mr. Ioannis Pistikos and the Clergy.
Also present was the Director of Protocolo of the Country, and by order of His Majesty King Mohamed VI a troop of the Royal Guard has been provided for the security of this important visitor, throughout his stay there.
IN the evening he went to the Holy Church of the Annunciation of the Theotokos in Casablanca, where he emotionally venerated and then gave strength to the faithful who were waiting for him, in paternal words. He went on to visit as a monument the Hassan II Mosque (the third in the world after Mecca and Medina) where he was taken on a conducted tour and expressed the wish that peace could reign in the world in the particularly difficult times on a global level, but most especially in the many North African regions.
