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Monday, April 21, 2025
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Monday, April 21, 2025
Abbas mourns Pope Francis as a ‘faithful friend of the Palestinian people’
Pope Francis prays at Israel's security barrier on his way to a Mass in Manger Square next to the Church of the Nativity, traditionally believed to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, May 25, 2014. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit, file)
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas paid tribute to Pope Francis, who died at 88, calling him a “faithful friend of the Palestinian people,” the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reports.
“Today, we lost a faithful friend of the Palestinian people and their legitimate rights,” Abbas says, noting that Pope Francis “recognized the Palestinian state and authorized the Palestinian flag to be raised in the Vatican.”
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