Abp. Lopez Receives Cardinal's Hat

“I want humanity to become one big family”

Abp. Cristobal Lopez Romero, SDB, Receives Cardinal’s Hat

(ANS – Vatican City – October 7) - On October 5 Pope Francis created 13 new cardinals; among them was a Salesian bishop, essentially a missionary, a son of Don Bosco who departed as an apostle for Paraguay, then was sent as a provincial to Bolivia. After Bolivia, he returned to serve as a provincial in his native country, Spain. While serving in Seville, he received the “missionary” assignment to serve as pastor of the little Catholic flock in Morocco.

Archbishop Lopez was given the cardinal’s biretta and diploma 
at the Vatican on October 5. / AFP via ANS

In all his interviews, Abp. Lopez says he is proud to be the pastor of a country where Catholics comprise only .08% of the population. “The Catholic Church exists in Morocco!” he exclaims. “It is a living Church, young, full of grace, and eager to bear witness.”

in his homily at the Mass in which the new cardinals were created, Pope Francis said, “Compassion is a key word in the Gospel.... It is forever written in the heart of God. The Lord’s compassion is not an occasional, sporadic attitude, but is constant; indeed, it seems to be the attitude of his heart, in which the mercy of God was incarnated.” To the new cardinals: “Is this awareness alive in you? To have been and to be always preceded and accompanied by his mercy? This consciousness was the permanent state of the immaculate heart of the Virgin Mary, who praised God as ‘her savior’ who ‘looked upon the lowliness of his servant’” (Lk 1:48).

Cardinal Cristobal remains the same: simple, kind, approachable, and above all a serene man, as he knows that God is the one who guides his small diocese of Rabat. In fact, when asked, “Why do you think the Pope chose you to be a cardinal?” he replies: “I don’t think that’s a decision that concerns me, but a great gesture of consideration by the Pope toward the Church of Morocco and the whole Maghreb. The Pope wanted to make visible these almost invisible ecclesiastical realities. And then, to promote interreligious dialog, especially Islamic-Christian dialog, and work on behalf of migrants.”

This appointment to my person “is considered a sign of gratitude by the Pope to King Mohammed VI for three reasons: the reception he received during his visit last March; the practice and dissemination of a moderate, balanced, and open Islam; the attention paid to those who are forced to emigrate,” emphasized Cardinal Cristobal.

The ceremony for the creation of new cardinals was attended by Fr. Angel Fernandez Artime, a group of Salesians from Spain, Italy, and Paraguay, friends and family of Abp. Lopez, and Moroccan authorities including the minister of the interior, the minister of Islam of Morocco, the ambassador of Morocco to the Holy See, a delegation of the Ecumenical Church Committee, and the official delegation of the Church of Morocco.

The cardinal’s desire is that “faith should no longer be one of the causes of world tensions, but should become the solution to these problems. We are called to propagate the gazes of brotherhood. United among ourselves, we must sow reconciliation and justice in such a way that humanity becomes one big family.”