VATICAN CITY: Pope Leo spoke by phone on Monday to the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmud Abbas, about the conflict in Gaza and violence in the West Bank, the Vatican said.
It was the first official conversation between the two men since Leo’s papacy began.
“The Holy Father repeated his appeal for international humanitarian law to be fully respected, emphasising in particular the obligation to protect civilians and sacred places, the prohibition of the indiscriminate use of force and of the forced transfer of the population,” the Vatican wrote.
The pope emphasized “the urgent need to provide assistance to those most vulnerable to the consequences of the conflict and to allow the adequate entry of humanitarian aid,” it said.
It followed a call on Friday between the pope and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a day after a strike by Israel on Gaza’s only Catholic Church that killed three people.
On Sunday, Leo condemned the “barbarity” of the war in Gaza and again called for a peaceful resolution.
The Holy See, which supports a two-state solution, formally recognized the state of Palestine through an agreement signed in 2015, one of the first states in Europe to do so.
In 2014, Israeli and Palestinian presidents Shimon Peres and Abbas planted an olive tree alongside Pope Francis in the Vatican gardens.
Pope has first call with Palestinian chief Abbas
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Pope has first call with Palestinian chief Abbas
- It was the first official conversation between the two men since Leo’s papacy began
- On Sunday, Leo condemned the “barbarity” of the war in Gaza and again called for a peaceful resolution
Algeria archbishop welcomes pope visit as ‘dream come true’
- French-language newspaper El Watan said the “symbolic” visit was “of great historical significance in a country where ancient Christian memory coexists with the Muslim reality of today”
ALGIERS: Pope Leo XIV’s newly announced visit to Algeria in April has been welcomed as a dream come true by the archbishop of Algiers.
The trip will mark the first time a head of the Catholic Church has visited the North African Muslim-majority country.
“This dream of a pope visiting Algeria ... has come true!” Jean-Paul Vesco, the Franco Algerian cardinal of the Catholic Church who serves as the Archbishop of Algiers, wrote in a statement.
He added that the pontiff had come to see “the Algeria of today, a meeting point between north and south, east and west, the West and the Arab-Muslim world.”
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The Algerian presidency said the pope’s trip reflected Algeria and the Vatican’s ‘shared belief in the need to build a world based on peace, dialogue, and justice, against the various challenges currently facing humanity.’
French-language newspaper El Watan said the “symbolic” visit was “of great historical significance in a country where ancient Christian memory coexists with the Muslim reality of today.”
Arabic-language newspaper El Khabar agreed that the visit, announced by the Vatican on Tuesday, “carries a great symbolic and spiritual dimension.”
For Leo, the trip is in honor of fifth-century Saint Augustine, who was born in modern-day Algeria and whose order he follows.
Leo, who was elected in May last year, will visit the capital Algiers and the city of Annaba — where the Basilica of Saint Augustine stands — from April 13 to 15.
The 70-year-old pontiff said the trip would allow him to “continue the discourse of dialogue and bridge-building between the Christian and the Muslim worlds.”
After Algeria, the pope will visit Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea.
