Pope speaks with Palestinian President Abbas

President Abbas

Source: Vatican Media, Wafa

Pope Francis had a telephone conversation with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas yesterday.

Palestinian news agency Wafa report that the President thanked Pope Francis for his efforts in supporting peace-building in the region. He also stressed the vital importance of the Vatican continuing its efforts to ensure an immediate ceasefire, in order to spare any more civilians the horrors of war.

Wafa reports that President Abbas indicated the urgency of establishing permanent humanitarian corridors for the delivery of medical and food supplies and the provision of water and electricity to Gaza.

Since the beginning of the war on 7 October, Pope Francis has repeated his calls for peace on several occasions. He has affirmed the need to establish an immediate ceasefire, to free the hostages held by Hamas, and to allow humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza.

Pope Francis is in daily contact with the Parish of the Holy Family in Gaza, through the assistant parish priest, Father Youssef Asaad, Sister Nabila Saleh, of the Sisters of the Rosary in Jerusalem, as well as through the parish priest himself, Father Gabriel Romanelli, who is stuck in Bethlehem.

On 22 and 26 October, he also held telephone conversations with US President Joe Biden and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, during which he indicated the need to find paths to peace and discussed his hope of achieving a two-state solution with a special status for Jerusalem.