Bethlehem / PNN/ 

A call by veteran Palestinian leader and Fatah figure Mohammad Khalil al-Lahham, known as Abu Khalil, inviting the newly elected Pope Leo XIV to visit Palestine and Bethlehem has been met with a warm welcome from religious leaders and church communities across the region, who emphasised the importance of such a visit.

Al-Lahham, a member of the Palestinian National Council, the Central Council, and Fatah’s Advisory Council, is widely regarded as a symbol of the Palestinian refugee cause and the right of return. He issued an official invitation to Pope Leo XIV, the Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church, in a message written in Italian.

”Your Holiness, we extend our warmest congratulations and greetings from the Dheisheh Refugee Camp and all Palestinian refugee camps, including those in the diaspora in Lebanon,” the letter read. “We were uprooted from our villages and towns during the Nakba in 1948 and continue to mark its 77th anniversary with the hope of returning to our homeland.”

Al-Lahham continued: “Just as we received your predecessors with love and reverence — from Pope Paul VI to Pope Francis — we also hope to soon have the honour of welcoming you to Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus Christ, and to the Dheisheh camp, among your children and family, our Holy Father.”

He added: “We place our hopes in your merciful voice and compassionate heart, to help end the massacres against our defenceless people — a population of whom around 70 percent are refugees and displaced persons, forcibly removed from their homes since 1948, and still suffering repeated tragedies to this day.”

Al-Lahham concluded his letter: “Your Holiness, we insist on our right to live in peace and security, like all peoples of the world. We demand this right not only as humans, but as the children of the land where Jesus Christ was born. We await salvation and the Saviour.”

In a phone interview, Archbishop Atallah Hanna praised al-Lahham’s initiative, describing it as a humanitarian, national, and fraternal gesture that highlights the unity of the Palestinian people as they endure collective suffering under Israeli aggression.

Archbishop Hanna expressed hope that God would grant Pope Leo XIV the strength and faith to defend the values of justice, freedom, love, human dignity, and tolerance. 

He also voiced optimism that the Pope would use his position to support the Palestinian people and their legitimate rights, calling al-Lahham’s invitation a significant step that the people of Palestine eagerly hope will be fulfilled.

Meanwhile, Bishop William Shomali, the Patriarchal Vicar in the Custody of the Holy Land and currently in Chicago — the birthplace of the newly elected Pope — said the invitation was “very important” and that he would personally deliver it to Pope Leo XIV upon his return from the United States.