President Isaac Herzog attended the inauguration of Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican on Sunday, signalling a potential thaw in relations between Israel and the Holy See following months of friction over the Gaza war.
Herzog, one of dozens of world leaders present at the ceremony in St Peter’s Square, briefly spoke with the new pope at the close of the event. According to his office, he used the opportunity to urge Leo to continue pressing for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza and to support the renewal of interfaith dialogue. The president also invited the pontiff to visit Israel.
Relations between Jerusalem and the Vatican soured during the final months of Pope Francis’s tenure, with Israeli officials angered by his increasingly critical stance on the war, including comments suggesting Israeli actions could amount to genocide. Israel sent only its ambassador to Francis’s funeral last month.
Leo XIV – born Robert Francis Prevost, the first American pope – has made outreach to Jewish leaders a stated priority since his election on 8 May. In letters sent ahead of his inauguration, he pledged to “continue and strengthen” dialogue with the Jewish people in the spirit of Nostra Aetate, the Second Vatican Council document that transformed Catholic – Jewish relations.
Pope Leo XIV
A 13-member Jewish delegation, including rabbis and communal representatives, will meet the pope formally on Monday. Rabbi Noam Marans of the American Jewish Committee, who received one of Leo’s personal letters, said the new pope was “giving this matter attention,” adding: “Everyone understood the relationship needed new oxygen.”
During his homily on Sunday, Leo referenced humanitarian crises in Gaza, Myanmar and Ukraine but did not mention the Israeli hostages by name. Herzog, who wore a yellow ribbon and a tag marked “590” – the number of days hostages have been held – reiterated that securing their release was a moral priority.
Other world leaders attending included US Vice President JD Vance, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
