From the birthplace of Jesus, Pope Francis has called on Israeli and Palestinian leaders to intensify efforts and create the conditions to forge a peace deal.
"For the good of all, there is a need to intensify efforts and initiatives aimed at creating the conditions for a stable peace," he told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whom he called "a man of peace and a peacemaker".
"In expressing my closeness to those who suffer most from this conflict, I wish to state my heartfelt conviction that the time has come to put an end to this situation, which has become increasingly unacceptable," he said after being welcomed in the West Bank city of Bethlehem.
The pontiff called for a two-state solution and on both sides to "make certain sacrifices" and praised the what he called good relations between the Holy See and the "State of Palestine".
He later made an unscheduled stop at Israel's West Bank barrier in Bethlehem, drawing attention to the towering eight-metre-high concrete wall topped by a guard tower.
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The 77-year-old pontiff was surrounded by anxious Palestinian security forces as he stepped out of his white jeep and moved towards the graffiti-covered wall to pray.
He remained there for several minutes before climbing back aboard the vehicle.
The stop came as the pope, who is on a three-day visit to the Middle East, was on his way to Bethlehem to celebrate mass with 10,000 pilgrims in Manger Square.
Francis is expected to press the Vatican's call for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict upon his arrival in Israel.
He is also expected to give a word of encouragement to Palestinian Christians, whose numbers have been dwindling as the conflict drags on.
Currently, Christians are roughly two per cent of the population of the Holy Land, down from about 10 per cent at the time of Israel's establishment.
In Bethlehem, they are less than one third of the population, down from 75 per cent a few decades ago.
Francis later invited Abbas and his Israeli counterpart, Shimon Peres, to come to the Vatican to pray jointly for peace.
"I wish to invite you, President Mahmoud Abbas, together with President Shimon Peres, to join me in heartfelt prayer to God for the gift of peace. I offer my home in the Vatican as a place for this encounter of prayer," Francis said in Bethlehem.
"Building peace is difficult, but living without peace is a constant torment. The men and women of these lands, and of the entire world, all of them, ask us to bring before God their fervent hopes for peace," he added.
The offices of the Israeli and Palestinian presidents confirmed that they had accepted the invitation to visit the Vatican together next month.
