Pope Francis Will Meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Thursday

JAKARTA - Pope Francis will meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday.

Abbas traveled to Italy this week, where he is also expected to meet Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

The Vatican announced a meeting with Abbas in a brief note on Tuesday, December 10, but gave no further details.

As reported by Reuters in November, Pope Francis suggested the global community should study whether Israel's campaign in Gaza was genocide against the Palestinian people.

The statement, which will be published in his book, received public criticism from Israel's ambassador to the Holy Throne.

Israel says allegations of genocide in Gaza are baseless and only hunt down Hamas and other armed groups.

Gaza authorities say nearly 45,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 106,000 injured in Israeli attacks.

Most of Gaza's 2 million people have lost their homes or fled due to threatening hunger.

Pope Francis and Abbas have met several times, and were last known to speak by telephone in November 2023, a month after the Israeli-Hamas conflict.

The Pope, as leader of the 1.4 billion Catholic Church, is usually cautious in favor of conflict, but has recently been outspoken about the Israeli campaign.

In October, the Pope criticized the "disgraceful inability" of the international community to end the war.