Pope Leo by Mazur / cbcew.org.uk (Left), President of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas / Fotografía oficial de la Presidencia de Colombia (Right)
During a July 21 phone call with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Pope Leo XIV expressed his opposition to forced displacement and called for full respect of international humanitarian law.
According to a July 21 statement from the Holy See Press Office, Abbas telephoned Pope Leo, who in the conversation “repeated his appeal for international humanitarian law to be fully respected, emphasizing 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.”
“Given the tragic humanitarian situation, emphasis was placed on 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,” the statement continued.
The Holy Father also marked the “auspicious tenth anniversary” of the Comprehensive Agreement between the Holy See and the State of Palestine, according to the statement.
Signed in June 2015 and in effect since January 2016, the agreement states that the Vatican recognizes Palestine as a state and endorses a two-state solution to the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to a 2015 Catholic News Agency report. The agreement also affirms religious freedom and the Church’s institutional rights within the region.
The phone call came days after a separate July 18 conversation between Pope Leo and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, during which Pope Leo urgently called for a ceasefire and expressed sorrow over the deaths caused by an Israeli tank shell that struck Gaza’s only Catholic parish.
The shell hit Holy Family Catholic Church as parishioners were leaving Mass, killing three Catholics and seriously injuring others. Netanyahu described the incident as a result of “stray ammunition.”
During an emotional Sunday Angelus address July 20, the Pope prayed for the victims by name and pleaded for an end to the “barbarism” of the war.
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