Israeli Ambassador to the Holy See Yaron Sideman meets with Pope Francis

Israel’s new ambassador to the Holy See, Yaron Sideman, presented his Credentials to Pope Francis this morning at the Apostolic Palace of the Vatican.

Early this Monday, September 16, the new ambassador of the country that has been immersed in a war with the Hamas terrorist group for almost a year, officially presented himself to the Holy Father.

Sideman, until now a member of the Israeli consulate in Philadelphia (United States), replaces Raphael Yaakov Schutz, who has held this position since 2021.

The new ambassador held a private meeting with Pope Francis and was later received by Cardinal Pietro Parolin at the Secretariat of State.

Sideman’s boy

Yaron Sideman is a graduate of the Israel National Defense College. He has been Director of Congressional Affairs in the North American Division, where he was responsible for overseeing and directing Israel’s relations with the United States Congress.

He was also Chief of the North American Bureau in the Office of Interfaith and Diaspora Affairs, as well as Consul for Public Affairs at the Consulate General of Israel in New York and Political Officer at the Embassy of Israel in Lagos, Nigeria.

He also has a master’s degree in Political Science from the University of Haifa and a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Philosophy from Tel Aviv University.

Tension between Israel and the Holy See

It is worth remembering that, last February, the Israeli embassy in the Vatican described as “deplorable” the statements of Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State of the Holy See, who defined Israel’s response in Gaza after the attacks. of Hamas on October 7 as “disproportionate.”

Later, in an attempt to ease the tension with the Holy See, the then ambassador Raphael Schulz retracted his statement and assured that the cardinal’s words were not deplorable but “unfortunate.”

From the embassy they argued that the adjective chosen for their message was “regrettable“, an adjective that, they said, “was translated into Italian as ‘deplorable’, although it could also have been translated as ‘unfortunate’.”

Pope Francis’ prayers for the end of the war

There have been numerous occasions on which the Holy Father has called for an end to the war in the Middle East.

In the Angelus yesterday, Sunday, September 15, he asked the faithful not to forget “the wars that bloody the world,” especially the martyred Ukraine, Myanmar and the Middle East.

“So many innocent victims! I think of the mothers who have lost children in wars. How many young lives cut short! I think of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, found dead in September, along with five other hostages, in Gaza.”

He also assured to pray for the victims and expressed his closeness “to all the families of the hostages.”

“Let the conflict in Palestine and Israel end! Let the violence stop, let the hatred stop! Let the hostages be released, negotiations continue and peace solutions found,” he exclaimed.