Thursday 4 September at 10 the Israeli president Isaac Herzog will be at the hearing by Pope Leo XIV. Following an interview between Herzog himself and Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin.
The mission, according to what was reported by the Herzog office, was organized by the Holy See and “will focus on the efforts to bring the hostages back from Gaza back, on the fight against anti -Semitism in the world and on the protection of Christian communities in the Middle East”.
Subsequently, the Israeli president will visit the Vatican archives and library, before returning to Israel in the afternoon.
Thursday will be the second meeting between Pope Leone and Herzog. On May 18, Herzog (62 years old, in office since 2021) had participated in the settlement ceremony of the new pontiff and had said he was grateful for the fact that one of his first acts had been to ask “the immediate return of all the hostages” still prisoners in the strip. The Israeli president had added to hope for the beginning of “a new era of cooperation between the faiths” during his papacy and the contextual strengthening “of the friendship between Jews, Christians and Muslims”. On this occasion, Herzog also invited Leone XIV to Israel.
The last high -level known contact between the Holy See and Israel had been on July 18th last. That day the Pope had received in the morning, in the residence of Castel Gandolfo, a phone call from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “following the military attack of the Israeli army that took place yesterday who hit the church of the Holy Family in Gaza, causing the death of three people and injuring others, including some seriously”.
According to the press release of the press room of the Holy See, during the interview, Leone XIV had renewed its appeal £ so that the momentum is restored to the negotiating action and a ceased and the end of the war is reached.
Finally Leone XIV had “reiterated the urgency to protect the places of worship and above all the faithful and all the people in Palestine and Israel”.
