Pope Leo XIV met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for the first time on Thursday, and the two men discussed the urgent need to provide assistance to civilians in Gaza and to pursue a two-State solution to end the conflict in the region. The meeting, which lasted about an hour and was described as “cordial” in a brief Vatican statement, comes nearly a month after the US-brokered ceasefire agreement came into effect in the Gaza Strip. “During the cordial talks, it was recognised that there is an urgent need to provide assistance to the civilian population in Gaza,” the Holy See said. Abbas was visiting the Vatican to mark the 10th anniversary of the signing of the “Comprehensive Agreement between the Holy See and the State of Palestine.”