On Saturday, January 14 Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen),
is scheduled to meet with Pope Francis in the Vatican and inaugurate
the new Palestinian embassy to the Holy See, situated in Rome, in via
Porta angelica. The inauguration will take place on the eve of the International Conference for Peace in the Middle East, convened in Paris on January 15, where there will be the presence of 70 countries, but not Israel and Palestine.
The bilateral diplomatic agreement between the Holy See and the State of Palestine came into force in January 2016. In the message written on the occasion of Christmas, the Palestinian President had announced his visit to the Vatican to meet with Pope Francis.
"In our meeting - stressed Mahmud Abbas – we will examine several topics of mutual interest, including the advancement of justice and peace in the region, as well as the encouragement of interreligious dialogue with a view to greater understanding and respect. We will emphasize our firm position that no holy Book should be used as a reason to justify all kinds of crimes and violations. We will also talk of the historic agreement between the State of Palestine and the Holy See, an example for the rest of the region on how to strengthen the Christian presence and its institutions".