With Gaza appeals, Pope Leo shows quiet but robust diplomatic style

By Joshua McElwee

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) -Pope Leo's recent forceful statements about the war in Gaza and his strong call for a ceasefire during a meeting last week with Israeli President Isaac Herzog showed the new leader of the Catholic Church developing a robust, if quiet, diplomatic style.

Leo, who became the first U.S. pontiff when he was elected in May, takes an approach that is more muted than his predecessor Pope Francis, who often grabbed headlines with big public appeals or unexpected, off the cuff comments.

Francis, for example, surprised even senior Vatican officials by suggesting to a journalist in late 2024 that Israel might be committing genocide with its military campaign in Gaza, remarks that drew a sharp backlash from Israeli leaders.

Leo has tended to avoid surprises in public. He favours working behind the scenes, in coordination with the Vatican's sprawling foreign policy apparatus, and stresses in-person discussions with foreign leaders.

"Pope Francis was much more inclined to leverage the attention that he got from the media directly," said Massimo Faggioli, an Italian academic at Trinity College Dublin in Ireland who follows the Vatican.

"Leo wants to talk to the interlocutor directly ... and is inclined to use the traditional channels to convey messages, knowing that people who are in the business, they will take notice," he said.

In his weekly public audience in St. Peter's Square last Wednesday, Leo made no mention of the war in Gaza. A day later, he met privately with Herzog at the Vatican - the first time a pope had hosted an Israeli leader in seven years.

The event, like all papal meetings with foreign dignitaries, was held behind closed doors, but the Vatican issued an unusually lengthy statement afterward saying Leo and top Vatican diplomatic officials had lamented the "tragic situation in Gaza" with Herzog.

The Vatican said they had also called for a permanent ceasefire in the Palestinian enclave, as well as the release of Israeli hostages held by the militant group Hamas.

One Vatican official, who asked not to be identified as he was not authorised to speak on the matter, said Leo stressed the Vatican's longstanding support for a two-state solution to the decades-long Israel-Palestinian conflict.

Israel's right-wing coalition government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejects the recognition of a Palestinian state, in part asserting that it would reward Hamas for the October 2023 attack it carried out on Israel.

"The concern has been the same but the language has been somewhat different," John Thavis, a retired longtime Vatican correspondent, said of the diplomatic styles of Francis and Leo.

Pope Leo is more apt to defer to the Vatican's foreign policy experts, said Thavis. "(He) has worded his appeals in the more impartial style of traditional Vatican diplomacy."

The world's cardinals, who elected Leo, will likely give him plenty of time to develop his diplomatic style. Aged 69, Leo can reasonably expect to have a papacy lasting 10 years or more.

PHONE CALL WITH NETANYAHU

The differences in diplomatic approaches by Leo and Francis were seen in July, after an Israeli strike on Gaza's sole Catholic church killed three people and injured several others.

Francis had been close to the church. He was known since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023 to make nightly calls to the pastor, Rev. Gabriel Romanelli, to check on the community.

Leo did not immediately make public comments after the July 17 strike. The Vatican instead issued a short, traditional telegram of condolences for the victims.

The next day, the Vatican announced that Leo had received a phone call from Netanyahu, who had not spoken with Francis in years.

Leo appealed to Netanyahu "for a renewed push for negotiations, a ceasefire and an end to the war," the Vatican said.

The Vatican has not said whether Leo has spoken personally with Romanelli. The pastor did not respond to a Reuters inquiry.

NO SMILES FOR HERZOG

Leo showed one similarity with Francis during last Thursday's meeting with Herzog.

Francis, who was a gregarious figure in public audiences, sometimes did not smile in photographs with foreign leaders. One senior cardinal who was close to Francis said the late pope wanted to send signals with his facial expressions.

During a 2017 meeting at the Vatican with U.S. President Donald Trump, who Francis had sharply criticized, the late pope showed a serious face standing next to Trump, who smiled broadly.

Leo, who also tends to smile when greeting people, did not smile in his photographs with Herzog.

Church officials also showed a willingness last week to forego some of the Vatican's usually strict diplomatic protocols.

While preparing for Herzog's arrival, they issued a statement to rebut the Israeli president's assertion that he was coming to the Vatican at Leo's request.

The Vatican does not usually comment on papal meetings with foreign leaders until after they have taken place.

"They're not letting anyone think that any government can use them as they wish," said Faggioli.

(Reporting by Joshua McElweeAdditional reporting in Cairo by Nidal Al-MughrabiEditing by Frances Kerry)