A Palestinian state is the ‘only solution’ to the decades- long Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Pope Leo said yesterday, reaffirming the Vatican’s position.
“We all know that at this time Israel still does not accept that solution, but we see it as the only solution,” Leo, the first US pope, told journalists on a flight from Türkiye to Lebanon during his first in-flight Press conference.
“We are also friends with Israel and we are seeking to be a mediating voice between the two parties that might help them close in on a solution with justice for everyone,” added the pope, speaking in Italian.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reaffirmed opposition to a Palestinian state after even its biggest ally the US indicated support for Palestinian independence.
Leo spoke in a brief eight-minute Press conference focused on his visit to Türkiye, which he visited from Thursday to Sunday on his first overseas trip since election in May as leader of the 1.4 billion-member Catholic Church.
The pope said he and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed both the Israeli- Palestinian and Ukraine-Russia conflicts.
Türkiye has an important role to play helping end both wars, Leo said.
During his visit to Türkiye, the pope warned that humanity’s future was at risk because of the world’s unusual number of bloody conflicts and condemned violence in the name of religion.
Leo, who usually prefers using careful, diplomatic language, ramped up criticism earlier this year of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
The pope urged political leaders in Lebanon to make peace their highest priority in a forceful appeal in a country that remains a target of Israeli air strikes on the second leg of his first overseas trip as Catholic leader.
Addressing a presidential palace chamber packed with politicians and religious leaders from Lebanon’s many sects, he opened his speech by repeating Jesus’ words ‘blessed are the peacemakers’.
Leo said Lebanon must now persevere with peace efforts despite facing a ‘highly complex, conflictual and uncertain’ regional situation in a speech attended by President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf
Salam and other leaders.
“In our country and in our region there is much anguish and many people in pain,” Aoun said, adding that Lebanon was a country “where Christians and Muslims live, different but equal”.
Hours before Leo’s arrival, crowds gathered along the roads from the airport to the presidential palace, waving Lebanese and Vatican flags.
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