Pope Francis received Raphael Yaakov Schutz, Israel’s ambassador to the Holy See, for his departing visit at the end of his term, the Holy See Press Office reported on August 7, 2024. The diplomat, who has been in Rome since 2021, criticized the Holy See’s attitude last February when it denounced the death toll in the Gaza Strip.
At the end of every mandate, ambassadors to the Holy See are invited to the Vatican for a final meeting with the pope. Raphael Yaakov Schutz, Israel’s ambassador to the Holy See, made this visit to Pope Francis after three years in office. His work as a diplomat was obviously transformed by the Hamas attack against Israel on October 7, as well as by the Israeli response in the Gaza Strip, which continues to this day.
Public disagreements
The Pope has spoken of Mideast peace dozens of times, including in his most recent public addresses. During his general audience on August 7, the Pope described the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip as “serious and unsustainable.” He also renewed his call for the conflict in the Middle East not to spread and for “an immediate ceasefire on all fronts, starting with Gaza.”
Last February, comments made by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin provoked a strong reaction from Raphael Yaakov Schutz. The head of Vatican diplomacy judged the death of 30,000 Palestinians in response to the October 7 massacre to be disproportionate.
“Judging the legitimacy of a war without taking into account ALL the relevant circumstances and data inevitably leads to erroneous conclusions,” the Israeli embassy lamented in a press release (in Italian), accusing the cardinal of relying on “Hamas sources.”
In an article published on the official Vatican News portal, the Vatican Media’s editorial director justified Cardinal Parolin’s condemnation, stating, “The right to defense, Israel’s right to bring the perpetrators of the October massacre to justice, cannot justify this carnage” in Gaza. Andrea Tornielli concluded by calling for “the weapons to be silenced before it is too late for our world on the brink of the abyss.”
Recent military escalation
The news of recent days is marked by the risk of military escalation in the Middle East. Last week’s eliminations of Hamas’ political leader in Teheran and Hezbollah’s military leader near Beirut have exacerbated tensions, particularly in southern Lebanon.
Ten months after the October 7 massacre, which claimed almost 1,200 victims on the Israeli side, the war waged by Israel against Hamas has already claimed 40,000 lives, according to the Islamist organization. Of the 251 people kidnapped by Hamas, 111 are still being held in Gaza, 39 of whom are considered dead, as Reuters and AFP reported at the end of July, citing the Israeli army.
Israel and the Holy See officially normalized their relations on December 30, 1993, three months after the Oslo Accords, which were intended to lay the foundations for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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