Pope Francis celebrates Largest Mass in History of Morocco

Pope Francis concluded his historic visit to Morocco by celebrating a Mass enlivened by a mixture of Gregorian chant with the beat of drums and the rhythmic dance, music and song of 10,000 faithful—most of them migrants from countries in sub-Saharan Africa—at a sports stadium in Rabat, the capital city of this Muslim-majority country.

It was the largest Mass ever celebrated in this land, where Christianity first came between the second and third centuries but where only a tiny presence remains today.

Bishops and priests from Morocco and other countries concelebrated Mass with Pope Francis in a sports complex on the outskirts of the city. Among those attending the Mass was Brother Jean-Pierre Schumacher, O.C.S.O, the last monk survivor from the monastery of Tibhirine in Algeria. (Seven Trappist monks were killed at Tibhirine during the Algerian civil war in 1996.) Prayers were read in Arabic, French, Spanish, English and Italian.