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Pope Francis to Meet With President Mahmoud Abbas

Visit Falls After Canonization of Palestine’s First Canonized Saints, Comprehensive Agreement Between Holy See and State of Palestine Came Into Full Force

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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.”

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Deborah Castellano Lubov

Deborah Castellano Lubov is Senior Vatican & Rome Correspondent for ZENIT; author of 'The Other Francis' ('L'Altro Francesco') featuring interviews with those closest to the Pope and preface by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Parolin (currently published in 5 languages); Deborah is also NBC & MSNBC Vatican Analyst. She often covers the Pope's travels abroad, often from the Papal Flight (including for historic trips such as to Abu Dhabi and Japan & Thailand), and has also asked him questions on the return-flight press conference on behalf of the English-speaking press present. Lubov has done much TV & radio commentary, including for NBC, Sky, EWTN, BBC, Vatican Radio, AP, Reuters and more. She also has contributed to various books on the Pope and has written for various Catholic publications. For 'The Other Francis': http://www.gracewing.co.uk/page219.html or https://www.amazon.com/Other-Francis-Everything-They-about/dp/0852449348/

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