VATICAN CITY: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday invited Pope Francis to visit the holy land, matching an invitation from Israel.

The pontiff, who has made many appeals for peace in the Middle East since his election in March, has already told Israel he will visit and is widely expected to make the trip next year.

“I invited him to the Holy Land,” Abbas said after a 30-minute private audience with the pope in the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace, their first meeting.

After the private part of the meeting, the pope gave Abbas a pen, telling him “surely, you have a lot of things you have to sign.”

Abbas responded: “I hope to sign a peace treaty with Israel with this pen.”

Abbas and Francis discussed the civil war in Syria and the prospects for peace between Israelis and Palestinians, the Vatican said in a statement.

Using the same language it used when Israeli President Shimon Peres visited Francis in April, the Vatican urged both sides to make “courageous and determined” decisions to move closer to peace, with the help of the international community.