Tribute to the memory of Father Georges Couturier

How great was our sadness when we learned recently, my wife, my children, and myself, of the death of Father Georges Couturier. He was, for my family, the only true friend of France in Morocco.Father Couturier, a doctor of medicine, was, like the current Pope Francis, elected to the Vatican, a Jesuit Christian. He worked in actions in favor of the poor. He was, moreover, a very cultured man, very open, and loved playing the cello. Exchanges with him were very pleasant and fruitful. He never sought to influence his interlocutors with a view to converting them to his religion. Speaking Arabic well and even mastering its writing, he had great respect for Muslims and their customs. He lived for nearly five decades in Morocco. He never left the Témara School of Agriculture (commonly called Cidera) where he had settled in 1965 as a trainer of Moroccan technicians in food hygiene. When the act…