President Isaac Herzog is expected to attend the official coronation ceremony of Pope Leo XIV, scheduled to take place next week, an Israeli official told The Jerusalem Post.
Herzog is expected to participate in the event alongside other foreign leaders.
At the funeral of Pope Francis, only Israel’s ambassador to the Vatican was present—a relatively low-level representative—while many other countries were represented by heads of state. For example, both President Trump and former President Biden represented the United States at the funeral.
Israel-Vatican tensions
Following Pope Francis’s death last month, tensions emerged between Israel, the Vatican, and various Christian organizations.
This was due to the fact that neither the Prime Minister nor the Foreign Ministry issued a statement of condolence.
The only Israeli official to release a statement was President Herzog. The Foreign Ministry even deleted a social media post that had expressed condolences, reportedly in response to the Pope’s harsh criticism of Israel's military operation in Gaza since October 7.
The Pope had claimed that Israel was killing children and suggested that war crimes may be taking place.
