Pope invites Israeli, Palestinian presidents to pray for peace at Vatican

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(Adds comments by the pope and his spokesman) BETHLEHEM, West Bank, May 25 (Reuters) - Pope Francis on Sunday invited the Israeli and Palestinian presidents to come to the Vatican to pray for peace a month after U.S.-backed talks aimed at ending the Middle East conflict collapsed. "In this, the birthplace of the Prince of Peace, I wish to invite you, President Mahmoud Abbas, together with President Shimon Peres, to join me in heartfelt prayer to God for the gift of peace," the pope said at a Mass in Bethlehem. "I offer my home in the Vatican as a place for this encounter of prayer," Francis said, in what Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi described as an unprecedented papal initiative. A spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declined immediate comment.

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