President Mahmoud Abbas meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican. WAFA photo by Thayer Ghanaym,

VATICAN CITY, January 14, 2017 (WAFA) – President Mahmoud Abbas met Saturday with Pope Francis at the Vatican.

The meeting discussed the situation in Palestine and mutual relations between the Vatican and Palestine, particularly following the Vatican recognition of Palestine in 2015.

President Abbas presented Pope Francis with replicas of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem and the Nativity Church in Bethlehem, as well as a book on the historic relations between Palestine and the Vatican and a painting by a Palestinian-Armenian artist of Cremisan valley and the separation wall in Bethlehem.

Pope Francis presented Abbas with a book about the history of the Holy See and a medal titled “Mercy.”

M.K.