2023-09-19 23:12:46
Rodolphe Saadé, CEO of CMA CGM and owner of “La Provence”, at Mucem, in Marseille, June 27, 2023, during a visit by Emmanuel Macron. LUDOVIC MARIN / AFP
Rodolphe Saadé, sponsor of the pope? In any case, he is the most generous of the fairies who looked into François’ visit to Marseille. And without its funding, the “ambulation” of the Holy Father in his popemobile, Saturday September 23 on the Prado, in the middle of an expected crowd of nearly 100,000 people, would perhaps not have taken place.
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The fortune of the chairman and CEO of the logistics group CMA CGM is no longer a secret. The shipowner made a record profit of 25 billion euros in 2022. In 2023, in a significantly less favorable context, it is more 3 billion over the first two quarters. Since taking the helm of the company founded by his father, Jacques, Rodolphe Saadé, 53, has also become an essential personality in his city. Main partner of Olympique de Marseille, it is the largest private employer in the region; 4,000 of its 155,000 employees work near the Old Port.
The group also owns the shipping company La Méridionale, which provides connections to Corsica. No high-ranking politician comes to Marseille without coming to greet him in his monumental tower. New owner of Provence, following a standoff with Xavier Niel (also an individual shareholder of Monde), he also increased his investments in the media: the first issue of La Tribune Sunday, around Bruno Jeudy, formerly of Paris Match and first journalist that Vincent Bolloré got rid of, is scheduled for October 8.
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A story linked to the Mediterranean
It is less known that he came not from a family of Roman Catholics but of Christians of the Greek Orthodox rite, originally from Syria and Lebanon. When, at the end of 2022, the diocese of Marseille turns to large companies in the region to help complete the budget of 2.5 million euros necessary for the organization of the Mediterranean Meetings, which bring together 120 young people of all faiths and sixty -ten Catholic bishops from thirty countries around the Mediterranean, and the arrival of Pope Francis, Rodolphe Saadé accepts.
His yes sets an example. Donations from other patrons, such as the McCourt Global group, owner of OM, or even Sodexo, giant of collective catering, follow. In total, private partners provide half of the financing of the event, while donations from individuals only reach 100,000 euros on the eve of the Pope’s arrival.
The Vatican’s choice to discuss from Marseille the great challenges of the Mediterranean and to plead appeasement between the different countries and communities bordering its shores could only appeal to a group whose history is linked to this sea, and whose Prosperity depends heavily on political stability around it. Cardinal Aveline – archbishop of Marseille and architect of François’s arrival -, who had previously met Tanya Saadé, sister of Rodolphe, deputy general director and president of the CMA CGM Foundation, resumed speaking with the shipowner before the summer.
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