Pope meets Israeli PM

December 02, 2013 - Pope Francis on Monday received in private audience in the Vatican Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel. Netanyahu later met Vatican Secretary of State, Archbishop Pietro Parolin, along with Vatican’s Under-Secretary for Relations with States, Msgr. Antoine Camilleri. During the talks, the two sides focused on the complex political and social situation in the Middle East, with particular reference to the re-starting of negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, with the hope that a just and lasting solution respecting the rights of both parties may be reached as soon as possible. Apart from touching upon a possible plan of the Holy Father’s pilgrimage to the Holy Land, various questions were considered regarding the relations between Israeli authorizes and the local Catholic communities, as well as between the state and the Holy See, in the hope that the Agreement which has been in preparation for quite some time may be concluded forthwith.