Pope Francis calls Palestinian leader “angel of peace” during visit

Pope Francis meets Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas during an audience at the Vatican Saturday, May 16, 2015. AP

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has praised Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as an “angel of peace” during a meeting at the Vatican.

Francis made the compliment Saturday during the traditional exchange of gifts at the end of an official audience in the Apostolic Palace. He presented Abbas with a medallion and explained that it represented the angel of peace “destroying the bad spirit of war.”

Francis said he thought the gift was appropriate since “you are an angel of peace.”

Abbas is in town for the canonization Sunday of two new saints from what was then Ottoman-ruled Palestine. It also comes days after the Vatican finalized a bilateral treaty with the “state of Palestine,” making explicit its recognition of Palestinian statehood.

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Abbas, for his part, offered Francis relics of the two new saints.