Pope to host Palestinian president Abbas

Vatican City: Pope Francis will host Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas an spectators at the Vatican on Jan 14.

Associations between the Holy See and Palestine were upgraded in 2015 with the signing of an accord expected to lead to the establishment of a Palestinian embassy in the Vatican at some point this year.

This will be the third time Francis has met Abbas following an encounter during the pontiff’s 2014 trip to the Holy Land and the Palestinian leader’s 2015 visit to the Vatican to attend a canonisation ceremony for two Palestinian nuns.

Israel was angered by the consensus, which came two years after the Vatican recognised Palestine as a state. Relations with the Jewish state were also strained by Francis describing Abbas as an “angel of peace” during the two men’s May 2015 meeting.

The Jan’14 meeting will come against a background of deep concern among Palestinians over US President-elect Donald Trump’s declared determination of moving the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.