President of the State of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas, will meet with Pope Francis on Saturday.
According to an informative note from the Holy See Press Office, Abbas is expected to arrive in the morning in the Vatican. This is not the first meeting between Francis and the Palestinian president.
This meeting takes place in the wake of the canonization of two nuns born in the Holy Land, Saints Mother Marie Alphonsine and Mariam Baouardy, an event that the Palestinian president attended in the Vatican on May 17, 2015. They were Palestine’s first canonized saints.
On Jan. 2, 2016, the Comprehensive Agreement between the Holy See and the State of Palestine came into full force. Signed by the Holy See and the State of Palestine on June 26, 2015, the agreement «regards essential aspects of the life and activity of the Church in Palestine, while at the same time reaffirming the support for a negotiated and peaceful solution to the conflict in the region.»
