"The communique follows this week's controversial announcement that the U.S. government is reversing its decades-old position that Israeli settlements in the West Bank are "inconsistent with international law."

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Monday that he instead preferred to refer to such settlements as "ill-advised," as former President Ronald Reagan once did.

The Vatican statement referred to "recent decisions that risk undermining further the Israeli-Palestinian peace process."

"The Holy See reiterates its position of a two-state solution for two peoples, as the only way to reach a complete solution to this age-old conflict." Continue reading