By NICOLE WINFIELD
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will join Pope Francis for an afternoon praying for peace at the Vatican on June 8, the Vatican said Thursday.
Francis had
invited both men to "my home" to pray during his recent trip to the
Middle East. Speaking from the biblical town of Bethlehem, Francis said:
"Building peace is difficult, but living without peace is a constant
torment."
Both men immediately agreed, and subsequently approved the June 8 date, the Vatican said in a statement Thursday.
Francis
has stressed that he is not seeking to jumpstart peace negotiations,
but merely bring the two sides together to pray. He said he had arranged
for a rabbi and a Muslim cleric to lead the prayers, along with him.
"It
will be a prayer meeting. It's not to do mediation or find solutions,"
he told reporters on the flight home from Jerusalem on Monday. "We'll
meet just to pray, and then everyone will go home. But I think praying
is important, praying together."
He called both Abbas and Peres "men of peace."
The
prospects of any breakthrough are slim. Peres, a 90-year-old Nobel
peace laureate, holds a largely ceremonial office and is set to step
down this summer. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has
expressed anger with politicians who have reached out to Abbas at a time
when the Palestinian leader is reconciling with the Islamic militant
group Hamas. Israel considers Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, a
terrorist group.
There was no comment Thursday from Netanyahu's office.
The latest round of U.S.-brokered peace negotiations collapsed in April.
Francis'
prayer meeting falls on Pentecost Sunday, an important feast in the
Catholic Church which celebrates the descent of the Holy Spirit on the
apostles. It formally marks the end of the Easter season, and Francis is
due to celebrate Mass that morning in St. Peter's Basilica.
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Aron Heller in Jerusalem contributed.
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Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield
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