Vatican City, Nov 6, 2025 / 09:30 am

Pope Leo XIV received President Mahmoud Abbas of Palestine for an audience in the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace on Thursday, almost a month after the truce agreement in the Gaza Strip came into effect.

According to the Holy See Press Office, during the meeting “it was recognized that there is an urgent need to provide assistance to the civilian population in Gaza and to end the conflict by pursuing a two-state solution.”

This is the first in-person meeting between Leo XIV and the 90-year-old Palestinian leader, who was also received at the Vatican by Pope Francis on Dec. 12, 2024, and on prior occasions.

Abbas spoke with Leo by phone on July 21. The conversation focused on the evolution of the conflict in the Gaza Strip and the violence in the West B

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