The Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication reiterated its long-standing call for recognition of Palestine statehood amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict after France announced last week it would recognize the region’s statehood. Pope Benedict XVI affirmed both that “the State of Israel has the right to exist and enjoy peace and security” and that “the Palestinian people have the right to an independent and sovereign homeland.” Before Benedict, in the early 1990s, Pope John Paul II established relationships with both the State of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization