After his midday Angelus prayer on Sunday, Pope Leo XIV expressed in Spanish his concern for “the alarming situation in Ceuta, asking God, through the intercession of Our Lady of Africa, that solutions of peace, stability, and justice may be found.”
“Let us continue to pray for peace, that wars may cease throughout the world and that diplomatic solutions to conflicts may be found,” he said.
The Diocese of Cádiz and Ceuta had also expressed its concern for the migration crisis with the influx of thousands of Moroccans over the last two days, and emphasized that they were ready to make its humanitarian resources available to authorities in response.
In his encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, the Pope emphasized that “All of us, at every level, can contribute to building the foundation of peace, which is justice. We do not merely seek any kind of peace—such as an absence of conflict at any cost—but instead, the true peace born of justice. “There exists a very close connection between the justice of the individual and the peace of everyone.”
In concert with the concerns expressed by the Pope, the Executive Intelligence Review (EIR) organized an extraordinary emergency roundtable on July 31—"Solve the Immigration Crisis with Development"—which brought together dozens of experts and international leaders to address the crisis with peaceful economic development.
Our Lady of Africa is a Catholic title for the Virgin Mary, represented by a renowned dark-skinned statue in the Basilica of Notre-Dame d’Afrique in Algiers, Algeria. Founded in the 19th century, the shrine has become a symbol of interfaith devotion, drawing both Christians and Muslims who come to pray to Mary.
