Vatican City, Sep 4, 2025 / 12:14 pm

Pope Leo XIV discussed the conflict in Gaza, including a two-state solution, with Israel President Isaac Herzog in a private audience at the Vatican on Thursday morning.

According to a Vatican statement after the meeting, the talks focused on the political and social situation in the Middle East and the need to guarantee “a future for the Palestinian people and peace and stability in the region, with the Holy See reiterating the two-state solution as the only way out of the ongoing war.”

The Israeli president also met with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Vatican Secretary for Relations with States Archbishop Paul Gallagher.

The Sept. 4 Vatican audience was the first closed-door meeting between Leo and Herzog, 64, who has been

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