Pope calls Palestinian leader “angel of peace” during visit

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi meets Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas at Chigi Palace in Rome, Friday, May 15, 2015. Abbas is on a two-day visit to Rome where he will meet with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Saturday. The meeting with the pontiff will come after the Vatican's official recognition of the State of Palestine in a new treaty finalized Wednesday. (Giuseppe Lami/ANSA via AP) ITALY OUT Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi meets Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas at Chigi Palace in Rome, Friday, May 15, 2015. Abbas is on a two-day visit to Rome where he will meet with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Saturday. The meeting with the pontiff will come after the Vatican's official recognition of the State of Palestine in a new treaty finalized Wednesday. (Giuseppe Lami/ANSA via AP) ITALY OUT

By Associated Press May 16, 2015 1 min read

VATICAN CITY (AP) – 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.

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