Pope Leo XIV held his first meeting yesterday with Abdullah II, Jordan’s king since 1999.
The king “highlighted efforts to preserve Christian religious sites in Jordan, particularly the Baptism Site of Jesus Christ,” The Jordan Times reported. The king invited the Pontiff to visit the site and recalled the historic Hashemite custodianship of Jerusalem’s holy sites.
Earlier this year, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State of His Holiness, hailed the strong ties between the Vatican and Jordan and consecrated the Church of the Baptism of the Lord at the site of the Lord’s Baptism, on land donated by King Abdullah II.