• The audience marked the first by history’s first American pope with the Israeli head of state.
• The Vatican has tried to maintain its tradition of diplomatic neutrality throughout the war, calling for the return of hostages while denouncing Israel’s attacks against civilians in Gaza.
• Herzog said Israel was striving “in every possible way” to bring the hostages home and was determined to work for “peace, tranquility and stability” in the region.

ROME — Pope Leo XIV and his top diplomats told Israel’s president Thursday that a two-state solution was the “only way out of the war,” as the Vatican called for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, the release of all hostages and entry of humanitarian aid to famine-stricken Palestinians there.

The Vatican issued an unusually detailed statement following Leo’s meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who also met with the Vatican secretary of state Cardinal Pietro Parolin and foreign minister, Archbishop Paul Gallagher. Herzog, for his part, said he had asked Leo to meet with families of the hostages, and called for intensified international efforts to secure their release.

The audience marked the first by history’s first American pope with the Israeli head of state. Leo spoke by telephone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in July after an Israeli shell slammed into the only Catholic church in Gaza, killing three people and wounding the parish priest.

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