Man rushes car carrying Moroccan king during motorcade with Pope Francis

Guards intercepted a man as he ran toward a car carrying the king of Morocco in a motorcade during the Pope’s visit to Rabat, the capital of the North African country.

Moroccan king Mohammed VI was waving to a large crowd as he stood in the car with much of his body visible when the man dashed toward him. It appears from a video that the man was carrying a piece of paper or envelope in an outstretched hand.

Security guards running alongside the vehicles stopped the man and took him away from the motorcade. Neither the king nor the pope was harmed.

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Pope Francis and King Mohammed VI rode in a motorcade to formally welcome the pontiff in Rabat, Morocco, Saturday, March 30, 2019. Francis's weekend trip to Morocco aims to highlight the North African nation's Christian-Muslim ties while giving him an opportunity to show solidarity with migrants at Europe's door and tend to a local Catholic flock. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia) (AP)

Pope Francis was riding parallel to the king about 30 yards away in his famous bulletproof white vehicle. The man did not approach him.

The incident occurred just after the Pope arrived on Sunday, as he was heading to a welcome ceremony at the Hassan Tower Complex.

The fate of the man who ran toward the king was not immediatley known.

Pope Francis is using his trip to Morocco to strengthen relations between Christians and Muslims there. On Friday, he tweeted about the need for respect and peace between both religious groups.

Francis took advantage of a speech in Morocco to explain that physical barriers won’t solve migration issues, and emphasize the need for social justice and rebalancing the world's wealth, according to the Washinton Post.

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