Israeli government deleted message of condolence for pope

24/4/2025 6:12

Most major nations

will be sending heads of state or government, or royalty, to

Pope Francis' funeral on Saturday, but Israel will be

represented only by its ambassador to the Vatican.



The decision to keep the representation at about the lowest

level possible is a sign of how far Israel's relations with the

Vatican have deteriorated since the start of the war in Gaza in

2023, diplomats said.



It also follows an Israeli government decision to delete a

social media post that had offered condolences for the pope's

death.



Shortly after Francis' death was announced on Monday, the

verified @Israel account used by the government on X published a

message that read: "Rest in Peace, Pope Francis. May his memory

be a blessing". It also showed an image of the pope visiting the

Western Wall in Jerusalem.



The post was later deleted without explanation. The

Jerusalem Post quoted officials at the foreign ministry as

saying it had been published in "error".



Israel sent a presidential delegation to the last funeral of

a pope who died in office, that of Pope John Paul II in 2005.

According to the Israeli embassy to the Vatican, it will be

represented at Francis' funeral by Yaron Sideman, who has been

its ambassador since September.



"It's a low point in a spiral," said one diplomat, who spoke

on condition of anonymity. "I hope both sides will be able to

overcome the differences and climb out of this together."



The Israeli embassy to the Vatican has limited its social

media reaction to the pope's death by reposting a message of

condolence to Christians in the Holy Land and around the world

by Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who described Francis as "a

man of deep faith and boundless compassion".



Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who leads a

far-right coalition of religious and nationalist parties, had

not commented on the pope's death as of Wednesday afternoon.







WAR OF WORDS



Relations between the Vatican and Israel have deteriorated

steadily since Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7,

2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages

to Gaza.



More than 50,000 people have been killed in Gaza since then,

Palestinian health authorities say, and most of the population

of 2.3 million has been displaced.



A month after the conflict started, a messy dispute broke

out over whether Pope Francis had used the word "genocide" to

describe events in Gaza. Palestinians who met with him said he

did. The Vatican said he did not.



The pope met relatives of Israeli hostages on the same day.



After the start of the war, Israel's then ambassador to the

Vatican, Raphael Schutz, lobbied the Vatican's Secretariat of

State repeatedly in late 2023 and throughout 2024, asking for

the pope to be more forceful in his condemnation of Hamas.



"There is a simple distinction, one side is murdering,

raping, and does not care about those on their own side. The

other side is engaged in a war of self-defence," Schutz said in

2023.



Last year, after Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro

Parolin said Israel's response to the Hamas attack had been

"disproportionate", Israel's embassy issued a statement calling

his comments "deplorable".



The embassy later toned down its criticism, citing a

translation error, but relations remained tense.



Last June, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Vatican's foreign

minister, appeared to rebuke Schutz at an event they both

attended.



"The Holy See does not close its doors to anyone and strives

to understand everyone's motivations and perspectives,"

Gallagher said. "In this regard, it is very much appreciated

when the positions of one's own authorities are timely presented

through the appropriate diplomatic forum and channels."



Francis, who visited the Holy Land in 2014, suggested last

November that the global community should study whether Israel's

military campaign in Gaza constituted genocide, in some of his

most explicit criticism yet of Israel's conduct in its war with

Hamas.



In January the pope called the humanitarian situation in

Gaza "shameful", prompting criticism from Rome's chief rabbi,

Riccardo Di Segni, who accused Francis of "selective

indignation".



Di Segni this week paid tribute to the pope, visiting his

body in the chapel of the Vatican residence where he died. He

has also said he will attend Francis' funeral, even though it is

taking place on the Jewish Sabbath.