Palestinian leader calls pope as Gaza past recounts Israeli shelling of church

Abstract

by OSV News Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called Pope Leo XIV on July 21 to discuss the war in Gaza and violence in the West Bank as the pastor of a Catholic church in Gaza told a newspaper that a recent shelling of his parish was "terrible" and that "the situation continues to be very serious." In the pope's call with the Palestinian president "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 Vatican said in its statement. In the morning of July 18, Pope Leo XIV received a phone call at his residence in Castel Gandolfo from Israels Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.