“We discussed what UNRWA does, but also what would happen if it were prevented from doing it”. Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), was received in Audience by Pope Leo XIV on Monday morning.
Afterward, he spoke to Vatican News about the meeting, as well as the humanitarian crisis in Palestine and the moral responsibility of a world tempted to look away.
Meeting with Pope Leo
During his audience with the Holy Father, Lazzarini explains, the conversation focused on the rapidly deteriorating situation in Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem, as well as on the wider regional consequences of a conflict that shows no sign of resolution. At the heart of the exchange, he adds, was the role of UNRWA on the ground.
“We spoke about what it would mean if the Agency were suddenly prevented from operating in Gaza or in the West Bank in the absence of a viable alternative,” Lazzarini says, explaining that such an alternative could only take the form of “capable and empowered” Palestinian institutions.
