Mahmoud Abbas praises Benedict XVI for his “solidarity” with the Palestinians

The President of the Palestinian National Authority, Mahmud Abbasexpressed this Saturday his condolences for the death of the emeritus pope Benedict XVIwhom he praised for his “solidarity and support for the freedom and independence of the Palestinian people.”

SIGHT: Benedict XVI died at the age of 95, the Pope who shook the world with his resignation

In a letter of condolences to Pope Francis, Abbas “asked for mercy for His Holiness Pope Benedict, and for Pope Francis to enjoy good health and long life,” the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.

The Palestinian president called for “the rapprochement between peoples and religions” and praised Benedict “for his solidarity and support for the freedom and independence of the Palestinian people.”

In 2009, the German Benedict XVI visited Bethlehem, a Palestinian city located in the occupied West Bank, where according to Christian faith Jesus was born.

There he greeted a crowd of Palestinian refugees and made a strong call for a “sovereign Palestinian homeland.”

He celebrated mass in Bethlehem’s Manger Square and offered his “solidarity” to the Palestinians in Gaza, saying he wanted the Israeli blockade of the coastal strip to be lifted.

Although the majority of Palestinians are Muslims, some 50,000 Christians live in the occupied Palestinian territories (1% of the population) in the cities of Bethlehem, Ramallah and Jerusalem. In addition, just over 1,000 Christians reside in the Gaza Strip.

Of all of them, about half belong to the Greek Orthodox Church, the same to the Catholic Church and the rest to Protestant or Presbyterian churches.

One of the main difficulties facing Christianity in the region is the constant battle with Israel for the right to preserve its land and property in the Palestinian territories that the Jewish state occupied in 1967.

Benedict received the sacrament of extreme unction on Wednesday due to his serious health conditions, and he died this Saturday at the age of 95 in the Mater Ecclesiae monastery in the Vatican, where he had resided in retirement since 2013, when he became the first pontiff to resign from the leadership of the Catholic Church since the Middle Ages.

Pope Francis will officiate the emeritus pontiff’s funeral on January 5 in Saint Peter’s Square, with the participation of official delegations from Italy and his native Germany.

Source: Elcomercio

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I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.