Ynet news April 27, 2025 In an interview with Ynet, former Israeli ambassador to the Vatican Raphael Schutz sharply criticized the handling of the situation
"When a leader of this magnitude passes away, you don't deviate from diplomatic protocols," Schutz stated "We should discuss our disagreements with the Vatican directly with the Vatican, not by boycotting the funeral.
A funeral that the whole world is attending, from Trump downwards, our absence creates a negative front for us with the entire Catholic Christian world — 1.3 billion people."
He added, "These are two different matters: This is how the diplomatic world behaves. 1. you can continue to express your dissatisfaction with the deceased pope and detail why he was wrong, 2. and at the same time, you attend the funeral.
Beyond the fact that the funeral was an opportunity to meet other world leaders, as always happens at such funerals, Israel, through its absence, beyond the antagonism it created with the Christian world, also created yet another display of political isolation – and this is not a good image for us, certainly not in these times."
Meanwhile, the Foreign Relations Forum, comprised of former ambassadors and senior Foreign Ministry officials, also issued strong criticism of the decision not to send high-ranking representatives to the pope's funeral.
"The world is watching the farewell ceremony for Pope Francis. Dozens of kings, princes and heads of state, many of whom are not Catholic, have arrived at the Vatican to pay their last respects to the head of the Catholic Church," the forum said in a statement.
"The absence of a senior representative of the State of Israel, the Jewish state, a proud member of the family of nations, especially during these days between Holocaust Remembrance Day and the revival of our independence 1. is a serious diplomatic error vis-à-vis the countries of the world in general and the Christian world in particular, 2. and it is a badge of shame for the government of Israel and its head."
