Pope Leo XIV meets Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at the Vatican, Nov. 6, 2025. (Credit: Simone Risoluti/Vatican Media/Handout)
Pope Leo XIV received Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday for the first time, amid an ongoing humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, nearly a month after the cease-fire took effect. “During this cordial meeting, the urgency of providing aid to the civilian population of Gaza and ending the conflict by pursuing a two-state solution was acknowledged,” the Vatican statement read.
This visit comes nearly a month after a fragile cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, following two years of devastating war triggered by the Oct. 7 attack.
The U.N. continues to urge Israel to open crossings into the territory, where exhausted residents are struggling to obtain water and food.
Abbas is the president of the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited control over the occupied West Bank. His political movement, Fatah, is a rival to Hamas, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007. This division has led to a long-lasting political split between the two Palestinian territories. This meeting was the first between the pope and Mahmoud Abbas since the American pontiff’s election in May. The two men previously spoke by phone in July.
On Wednesday, shortly after arriving in the Italian capital, Abbas visited the Basilica of Saint Mary Major to pay his respects at the tomb of Pope Francis, who died in April, and to lay flowers there. “I came to see him because I cannot forget what he did for the Palestinian people,” he told reporters.
In the final months of his pontificate, the Argentine pope had hardened his critique of the Israeli offensive, leading to diplomatic tensions with the Israeli embassy. His successor has so far adopted a more measured stance: he has expressed solidarity with Gaza and condemned the "collective punishment" and forced displacement of Palestinians, while stating that the Vatican could not pronounce on “genocide” in the enclave.
Abbas visited the Vatican several times during Francis's papacy, with his last visit in December 2024. In 2014, he planted an olive tree in the Vatican gardens alongside his Israeli counterpart, Shimon Peres and Pope Francis as a symbol of peace.
The Vatican has recognized the State of Palestine since 2015 and supports a two-state solution. Abbas will meet Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Friday.
This article originally appeared in French in AFP.
