Comedian Gad Elmaleh Delivers Interfaith Message at Pope’s Mass in Marseille

Gad Elmaleh took the stage at the Stade Vélodrome, before the giant mass of Pope Francis which is bringing together between 60,000 and 70,000 faithful this afternoon. Born in Morocco into a Jewish family, the Moroccan comedian grew up in Morocco, where Islam is a state religion. Today, he asks for "the protection of Notre-Dame de la Garde". He says he wants this mix. "I want it, I assume it, I love it, affirms the former partner of Charlotte Casiraghi. I love our differences. Throughout the year, politicians talk about living together as a posture, a political idea, but this is what we are doing today, being together and united".

"It is planned that I will give a poetic speech on the Mediterranean, on brotherhood. Whatever our religious conviction, we can only respect brotherhood, love between peoples, communities. It’s nice to talk about living together but here is a concrete moment. Whether you are Catholic, not Catholic, not practicing, practicing, at some point there is a communion, a union of brothers and sisters in humanity, and that’s all I want. The time is not for debate," Elmaleh explained to the microphone of BFMTV before his intervention at the Vélodrome.

On December 23, 2022, the Moroccan comedian had met Pope Francis at the Vatican to whom he presented his film "Reste un peu", released in France a month earlier and whose screenplay is based on his spiritual journey towards Catholicism. "It’s a lot of emotions. There is the spiritual figure, he represents the Church, but there is the man... We talked about deep subjects, we also laughed a lot. It was not an appointment but an encounter. [...] We started with a conversation about light, because I had explained in my letter that I was requesting this meeting in the double light of Hanukkah and Christmas," he had confided, in an interview with Le Figaro after the meeting.