Pope Leo XIV has appointed Father Mario León Dorado, O.M.I., as coadjutor archbishop of Rabat, Morocco, bringing renewed attention to the Spanish missionary’s past statements about the Church, interreligious dialogue and controversial pastoral questions.
The Vatican announced the appointment Sept. 12. According to the Holy See Press Office, Dorado has served as apostolic prefect of Western Sahara since 2013 and became apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of Rabat in 2026. He has spent more than two decades serving the Church in North Africa.
But following the announcement, several of Dorado’s previous writings and statements have drawn scrutiny, particularly his description of the Church’s relationship to the Kingdom of God.
According to LifeSiteNews, Dorado wrote of an “ecclesiological challenge” in which the Church understands herself as “a sacrament at the service of the Kingdom of God.”
“The Church is called to disappear so that the Kingdom may grow, in analogy with the experience of John the Baptist,” Dorado stated, according to LifeSiteNews. “The experience of John the Baptist is the experience of the Church.”
The remark has raised questions about how Dorado understands the Church’s enduring mission and identity. Catholic teaching holds that Christ established the Church and that she will endure until the fulfillment of the Kingdom. The Second Vatican Council describes the Church as the “seed and the beginning” of the Kingdom on earth while looking forward to its completion in glory.
Dorado has also been a strong advocate of interreligious dialogue, particularly between Christians and Muslims in North Africa.
Writing about Pope Francis’ emphasis on universal fraternity, Dorado expressed concern about resistance to that vision.
“I am struck by the strong resistance to the universal fraternity proposed by Pope Francis in the name of the Gospel,” he wrote, according to LifeSiteNews. “Why is there so much resistance to universal fraternity?”
His approach to Christian-Muslim relations also attracted attention in 2018, when he discussed the coming beatification of 19 Catholic martyrs killed in Algeria and referred to Muslim religious leaders who had also been murdered by Islamist extremists.
Dorado wrote that Algeria would honor 114 imams who refused to endorse extremist violence and were subsequently killed, calling them “authentic Muslim martyrs.” He described the Catholics and Muslims as witnesses “of coexistence, of peace and of encounter,” before adding, “Perhaps they will all help us with their example and intercession.” The statement remains published by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate.
Dorado has likewise participated in the North African bishops’ response to Fiducia Supplicans, the 2023 Vatican declaration addressing pastoral blessings for people in irregular situations, including same-sex couples.
The Regional Episcopal Conference of North Africa met in Rabat in January 2024 and took a notably different approach from many other African bishops.
According to Vatican News, the North African bishops said blessings could be given both to individuals who request them and to people in irregular situations who approach together, provided the blessing does not cause confusion for those involved or for others. The bishops also emphasized that Fiducia Supplicans reaffirmed Catholic doctrine concerning marriage and sexual morality.
That distinction is important. The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith later clarified that Fiducia Supplicans permits brief, non-ritualized pastoral blessings of couples in irregular situations, but not blessings of their unions. Such blessings, the Dicastery said, do not constitute an approval or justification of a relationship that is contrary to Catholic moral teaching.
The North African position stood apart from the broader response of bishops across Africa. In January 2024, Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu said African episcopal conferences generally preferred not to offer blessings to same-sex couples because of the danger of confusion and scandal, while acknowledging the authority of individual diocesan bishops and reaffirming communion with Pope Francis.
Dorado’s writings also reflect his support for the interreligious vision promoted during the Francis pontificate, including the 2019 Document on Human Fraternity signed in Abu Dhabi by Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar.
According to LifeSiteNews, Dorado described the Abu Dhabi document and Francis’ 2019 visit to Morocco as revealing a broader vision that included “making interreligious dialogue a central priority,” together with care for creation, the poor and migrants.
His appointment therefore places a missionary deeply shaped by the Church’s experience as a small minority in predominantly Muslim North Africa into an important leadership position in Morocco.
Born in Madrid in 1974, Dorado made his first religious vows with the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate in 1996 and was ordained a priest in 2001. He was sent to Western Sahara in 2004, became apostolic administrator there in 2009 and apostolic prefect in 2013.
As coadjutor archbishop, Dorado now takes on a significant role in the Archdiocese of Rabat at a time when questions surrounding evangelization, interreligious dialogue, Catholic identity and the pastoral implementation of Fiducia Supplicans remain subjects of serious discussion within the Church.
His appointment will likely bring those questions renewed attention — particularly as Catholics consider how the Church can pursue dialogue and fraternity with people of other faiths while remaining faithful to her mission to proclaim Jesus Christ and the Gospel to all nations.
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