POPE RECEIVES IRANIAN FM ZARIF IN VATICAN

Mon 17 May 2021:

Pope Francis met with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in the Vatican on Monday, the Holy See said.

Matteo Bruni, the director of the Holy See Press Office, confirmed that the meeting took place at around 9:00 a.m. (07:00 GMT). The Vatican, however, did not disclose any details about the content of the talks. According to local sources, the situation in the middle East was most likely on the agenda.

During the Sunday Mass, the head of the Roman Catholic Church expressed deep concern over the growing tensions in the Middle East and warned that the ongoing violence in Israel and the Gaza Strip risks degenerating “into a spiral of death and destruction,” with wounds to “fraternity and peaceful coexistence” that will be difficult to heal without an immediate return to dialogue.

Notably, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said earlier in the day that he had held a phone conversation with the Roman pontiff, during which he told Pope Francis that “the addressees of the Israeli attacks were not only the Palestinians but all Muslims, Christians and all of humanity.”

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