After Pope Francis Invitation, Shimon Peres and Mahmoud Abbas To Meet on June 8
Image by getty images
Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will meet at the Vatican and pray for peace together on June 8, the Vatican said on Thursday.
Pope Francis invited the two leaders to hold an unprecedented prayer meeting during his trip to the Holy Land last week.
The Vatican said the two had accepted that the meeting would take place on a Sunday afternoon. That morning the pope will be presiding at a Pentacost Sunday service in St Peter’s Square.
The pope, who made the surprise invitation at the end of a Mass in Bethlehem last Saturday, told reporters on the plane returning to Rome that he was not getting directly involved in the stalled Mideast peace process.
But he said he hoped the prayer meeting would help create an atmosphere that would help the eventual resumption of talks. He said a rabbi and an Islamic official would be present, without giving details.
Pope Francis invited the two leaders to hold an unprecedented prayer meeting during his trip to the Holy Land last week.
The Vatican said the two had accepted that the meeting would take place on a Sunday afternoon. That morning the pope will be presiding at a Pentacost Sunday service in St Peter’s Square.
The pope, who made the surprise invitation at the end of a Mass in Bethlehem last Saturday, told reporters on the plane returning to Rome that he was not getting directly involved in the stalled Mideast peace process.
But he said he hoped the prayer meeting would help create an atmosphere that would help the eventual resumption of talks. He said a rabbi and an Islamic official would be present, without giving details.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news. All donations are still being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000 until April 24.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
