Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will meet at the Vatican and pray for peace together at an unprecedented gathering on June 8, the Reuters website reports today (May 29, 2014).
In one of his boldest political gestures since his election in March, 2013, Pope Francis invited the two leaders to come to the Vatican and hold a joint prayer meeting with him during the pontiff's trip to the Holy Land last week.
Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said the two had accepted and that the meeting would take place on a Sunday afternoon. On the morning of June 8, the pope will be presiding at a Pentacost Sunday service in St. Peter's Square. Pope Francis -- who made the surprise invitation at the end of a Mass in Bethlehem on May 24 -- told reporters on the plane returning to Rome that he was not getting directly involved in the stalled Mideast peace process, something he said would be "crazy on my part."
But he said he hoped the prayer meeting -- which comes after failing diplomatic efforts to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict -- would help create an atmosphere that would help the eventual resumption of talks. "Courage is needed to do this and I am praying to the Lord very much so that these two leaders, these two governments, have the courage to move forward. This is the only path for peace," Francis said.
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