Vatican City — Pope Leo XIV met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for the first time on Thursday, and the two men discussed the urgent need to provide assistance to civilians in Gaza and to pursue a two-state solution to end the conflict in the region.

The meeting, which lasted about an hour and was described as “cordial” in a brief Vatican statement, comes nearly a month after the U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement came into effect in the Gaza Strip.

The pope and Abbas had not met in person previously. They had spoken over the phone in July to talk about developments in the conflict in Gaza and violence in the West Bank.

“During the cordial talks, it was recognized that there is an urgent need to provide assistance to the civilian population in Gaza and to end the conflict by pursuin

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