Pontiff Makes Unprecedented Morocco Visit

Pope John Paul II arrived Monday on an unprecedented state visit to a leading Muslim nation, calling for a review of the status of Jerusalem, a focus of contention among Jews, Arabs and Christians in the Middle East.

The pontiff was greeted with full honors by Morocco’s King Hassan II, who organized one of the biggest and most colorful receptions that the head of the Roman Catholic Church has received during his 12-day mission to the African continent.

The greeting, by scores of thousands of Moroccan peasants trucked into the city by the government, was the first official reception of a Roman Catholic Pope in any Muslim country.

The Pope hailed the occasion as an opportunity to “change our old habits” and dispose of a checkered past in Christian-Muslim relations in which “we have opposed each other and even exhausted each other in polemics and wars.”

Agrees With Hassan

Before landing at Mohammed V International Airport near Casablanca, the pontiff told reporters during his eight-hour jet flight from Nairobi, Kenya, that he is in general agreement with Hassan on the status of Jerusalem, which is sacred to Jews, Muslims and Christians. The Moroccan king is chairman of the Jerusalem committee of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, the forum of Muslim nations.

“The problem of Jerusalem should be reviewed,” the Pope said.

John Paul planned to discuss the question, along with other Mideast issues, in the private meeting with Hassan that was held during the Pope’s five-hour stop in Casablanca.

Responding to questions, the pontiff told reporters that “the Muslims are convinced that Jerusalem should have a special status, as a central point, the capital of three monotheistic religions. . . . That is also the view of the Holy See, of Pope Paul VI. . . . Basically, I continue the attitude of my predecessor.”

In discussing the Muslim view, which sees Jerusalem as both the future capital of an independent Palestine and a sacred center for all three religions under Arab and international guarantees, the pontiff said that it “should be not only the capital of Israel, but should be characteristic of a religious capital of three monotheistic religions.”

The official Vatican spokesman hastened to clarify the remark, which he said was definitely not a papal endorsement of Israel’s claim to Jerusalem as its capital. All but a few of the world’s nations have withheld such recognition, as has the Vatican, which does not have diplomatic ties with Israel.

But the pontiff left no doubt about the Holy See’s desire to see Israel exist. “Of course we cannot deny to Israel the right to be a state,” he said. “But the problem of Jerusalem should be reviewed.

“How it should be realized is another question,” he added. “We are still working for the solution of the very complex problems of the Middle East. The problem of Jerusalem is one element. There are other problems--very important, difficult Palestinian problems and the Lebanon problem and very, very complex problems of the Middle East and of the coexistence of Christians and Muslims and also Jews in this area.”

He called the Mideast crisis “one of the key problems of the contemporary world.”

Amid the tightest security restrictions applied by any nation in the 27 foreign journeys of John Paul’s papacy, Hassan went to extraordinary lengths to make the first formal Muslim reception for a Pope a memorable one, organizing 80,000 of his subjects to pack Casablanca’s downtown stadium where the Pope delivered a major speech.

Parade of Horsemen

At one point along the 20-mile motorcade route from the airport, from which all traffic and pedestrians were barred for the day, the king had erected an elaborate festival ground of Berber nomad tents and fielded hundreds of rifle-bearing horsemen in parade-ground order on a huge field to salute the pontiff as he passed by.

Inside Casablanca, a city of 3 million, thousands of police and troops sealed off traffic and screened passers-by for possible security risks.

Before the Pope’s arrival, some officials in his entourage had expressed fears that, by visiting Morocco, he was risking a possible assassination attempt by Islamic extremists. John Paul himself characterized the visit during the flight to Casablanca as “an experiment.”

But it was clear that Hassan had gone to extreme lengths to guard the Pope. Reporters who have often covered visits of heads of state to Morocco could not recall such tight security measures here.

Armed Soldiers, Police

The motorcade route inside the city was guarded by armed soldiers and police spaced only a few feet apart, and most of the many thousands of workaday Moroccans who crowded behind the security cordons for a glimpse of the pontiff were not city residents but loyal peasants selected from towns and villages all over the country and brought in by the thousands to make a creditable show for the king.

Berber musicians and European-style brass bands serenaded the passing motorcade, and the crowd of 80,000 in the stadium roared its welcome as if on cue.

John Paul and Vatican officials who helped to plan the visit had thought that the pontiff was to address a rally of Muslim youths who were in Casablanca last week for the Pan-Arab athletic games, representing all nations of the Arab world. But at almost the last minute, Hassan informed the papal entourage that the games had ended on Friday and that the Pope would instead face an entirely Moroccan crowd, among which young people were a distinct minority.

A Plea for Dialogue

The pontiff’s message to the king and to his vast, organized audience of loyal followers was entirely one of conciliation and a plea for dialogue between Christians and Muslims.

“Christians and Muslims, we have generally understood each other poorly, and sometimes in the past we have opposed each other and even exhausted each other in polemics and wars,” the Pope declared in French, a language widely understood in this former French protectorate. “I believe that God invites us today to change our old habits.”

Noting that Christians and Muslims “believe in the same God, the one God,” and share the same anguished world, he said that “the dialogue between Christians and Muslims is today more necessary than ever.”

John Paul condemned “racism, wars and injustices” and warned of those who “risk wanting to change all through violence or through extreme solutions.”

‘You Are Responsible’

“Wisdom teaches us that self-discipline and love are the sole levers for desired renewal,” the Pope added. “You are responsible for the world of tomorrow.”

Earlier, in a speech to some members of the tiny community of Moroccan Christians at a Catholic teaching institute here, where Christian missionary work and proselytizing are strictly illegal, he referred to Morocco as “this country with traditions of hospitality and tolerance.”

The Casablanca stop marked the end of the Pope’s 12-day African journey, which took him to Togo, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Zaire and Kenya in equatorial Africa and to this North African country. He returned to Rome late Monday night.