Bells tolled across Catholic churches worldwide Monday as news spread of Pope Francis’ death at 88 from a stroke, ending a 12-year leadership marked by both strong Jewish relations and recent tensions over Israel’s war against Hamas.
On Sunday, Francis had appeared in St. Peter’s Square for the first time since recovering from double pneumonia. The Vatican expects to move the pontiff’s body to St. Peter’s Basilica for public viewing, possibly as early as Wednesday morning, initiating nine days of official mourning known as the Novendiales.
While still a cardinal in Argentina, Francis demonstrated his commitment to Jewish-Catholic dialogue by co-authoring “On Heaven and Earth” with Rabbi Abraham Skorka in 2010. Seven years later, they jointly condemned Nazi atrocities in their introduction to “Morality and Legality in Dark Times,” warning that the Holocaust revealed “human arrogance” of those who “felt like gods.”
After assuming the papacy in 2013, Francis maintained a complicated relationship with Israel and Jewish communities. He was the first pope to visit Theodor Herzl’s tomb and made pilgrimages to Israel, Rome’s Great Synagogue, and Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.
In his final Easter message, Francis called for Hamas to release the remaining Israeli hostages while expressing concern about the “growing climate of antisemitism around the world.”
However, Francis drew criticism in December for unveiling a nativity scene featuring the infant Jesus wrapped in a keffiyeh. He also came under fire after publishing a book suggesting Israel’s defensive war in Gaza constituted genocide. Despite the late deterioration of relations, Israeli President Isaac Herzog took to social media on Monday to praise the late pontiff as “a man of deep faith and boundless compassion.”
“He rightly saw great importance in fostering strong ties with the Jewish world and in advancing interfaith dialogue as a path toward greater understanding and mutual respect,” Herzog wrote. “I truly hope that his prayers for peace in the Middle East and for the safe return of the hostages will soon be answered. May his memory continue to inspire acts of kindness, unity, and hope.”
Similarly, World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder remembered Francis as “a true moral leader, a man of deep faith and humanity, and a steadfast friend to the Jewish people,” while acknowledging “moments of difficulty, particularly in recent months.”
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