President Isaac Herzog plans to attend Pope Leo XIV’s inauguration, set to take place in Rome on May 18, his spokesperson confirmed to The Times of Israel on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, both the American Jewish Committee and the Jewish Community of Rome announced that right after his appointment, the new pontiff reached out to their rabbinical leadership to reaffirm his commitment to interfaith dialogue.

At Pope Francis’s funeral last month, Israel was represented only by its Ambassador to the Holy See, Yaron Sideman, in a move that was seen by many as a nadir in ties between the Vatican and Jerusalem in recent years.

Francis’s relationship with Israel and many Jewish leaders deteriorated after October 7, 2023, as they accused him of failing to pin blame sufficiently on Hamas and of seeming to equate the terror group’s assault on Israeli towns with the Jewish state’s military response.

Addressing a group of reporters at the Latin Patriarchate in the Old City of Jerusalem on Tuesday, the patriarch, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, said that he hoped Herzog’s intention to participate in the inauguration could mark a turning point that would leave the tensions behind.

“The president of the State of Israel will be there,” he said. “I read it as a desire to change the situation.”

Pizzaballa also said he expected the new pope to visit Israel and the Middle East, although it was not yet possible to determine when that would happen.

“For sure, a papal visit to the Middle East, the Holy Land, but also other [places], needs to be done, but I do not know the timing,” he said. “Jerusalem is the center of the life of the church.”

Asked whether Leo had already phoned the Catholic parish in Gaza, as Francis used to do almost every night, the cardinal said, “It is too early, let him breathe for a few weeks.”

He also denounced the humanitarian situation in the Strip, expressing concern about the aid blockade imposed by Israel since March 2.

“It is an inconceivable situation, ethically unacceptable; it is not the way to resolve the conflict; it will create more hatred,” Pizzaballa said. “We call all those who have the power to make decisions to end this, to solve the conflict in a different way.”

Israel says the blockade aims to pressure Hamas to release the 58 hostages it still holds. It says it won’t let aid back in until a new system giving it control over distribution is put in place, accusing Hamas of siphoning off supplies.

Ahead of the conclave, Pizzaballa was considered a possible successor to Francis. The cardinal, however, dismissed the notion, saying that he always knew it would not happen.

“I felt very serene as I knew I would come back to Jerusalem, though I found the rumors surrounding me slightly irritating,” he said.

During the press conference, Pizzaballa also emphasized the importance of Jewish-Christian dialogue and suggested that Leo’s messages to different rabbis reaffirmed it.

Leo, the first US-born pope, sent a letter to Rabbi Noam Marans, the director of Interreligious Affairs of the American Jewish Committee, who posted the letter on the social platform X late on Monday.

“Trusting in the assistance of the almighty, I pledge to continue and strengthen the Church’s dialogue and cooperation with the Jewish people in the spirit of the Second Vatican Council’s declaration Nostra Aetate,” Leo said in the letter.

A similar message was sent to the Chief Rabbi of Rome Riccardo Di Segni, the Jewish Community said in a statement, adding that the rabbi welcomed the message “with gratitude and satisfaction.”

Nostra Aetate was a landmark document in the 1962-1965 Council that repudiated the concept of collective Jewish guilt for the death of Jesus and urged dialogue with non-Christian religions.

The brief document revolutionized Catholic relations with Jews after centuries of persecution and mistrust. The dialogue that ensued over the following two decades made it possible for Pope John Paul II to become the first pontiff to visit a synagogue, giving a speech in Rome’s main temple in 1986, where he called Jews “our beloved elder brothers.”

After years of often-tense relations, the Vatican and Israel signed a “fundamental agreement” in 1993 and exchanged full ambassadors the following year.

A Vatican source said Rabbi Marans would attend Leo’s inaugural Mass on Sunday. More than a dozen other Jewish leaders from around the world were also expected to attend, the source said.

The Jewish Community of Rome confirmed in the statement that Di Segni will attend the ceremony.

Lazar Berman contributed to this article.