Pope Leo XIV has invited Israeli President Isaac Herzog to the Vatican for a meeting this week to discuss the safety of Christians in the Middle East and other “political matters”. Source: Crux.
While not unprecedented, it is rare for a pope to invite a foreign head of state for an official visit.
In a statement to journalists ahead of Mr Herzog’s visit today, a Vatican spokesman said that “it is the practice of the Holy See to grant request for audiences made to the pontiff by heads of state and government, it is not the practice to send them invitations.”
Pope Francis personally invited Israeli president Shimon Peres and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to the Vatican Gardens in June 2014, after having made a visit to the Holy Land just weeks earlier, to attend a special prayer service alongside Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople.
However, that invitation was to attend a ceremony of prayer alongside another religious leader, and not an invitation to a formal state visit, which makes Leo’s invitation to Mr Herzog even more unusual.
In a statement on Tuesday announcing Mr Herzog’s visit to Rome, a spokesperson for the President’s office said that Mr Herzog will depart for Rome on Thursday morning for a day trip and will meet with Pope Leo and the Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin.
“Central to their meetings will be the efforts to secure the release of the hostages, the fight against global antisemitism, and the safeguarding of Christian communities in the Middle East, alongside discussions on other political matters,” the statement said.
Following his formal meetings, Mr Herzog will have a tour of the Vatican Archives and Library before returning to Israel that afternoon.
Since his election, Pope Leo has attempted to walk a delicate and balanced line on the Gaza war, repeatedly calling for peace and for access to humanitarian aid, and consistently urging the release of all hostages.
In his August 27 general audience catechesis, he lamented that the Gaza war was causing “so much terror, destruction, and death.”
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Leo makes unusual move of inviting Israeli president to visit (By Elise Ann Allen, Crux)
