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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.

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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.

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