Israel tones down criticism of Vatican’s Gaza remarks

Israel tones down its criticism of the Vatican, saying that remarks by Pope Francis’ deputy on the killings in Gaza were “regrettable” rather than “deplorable.”

Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin had said on Tuesday that Israel’s military response to the Hamas massacre was disproportionate and caused “carnage.”

A day later, Israel’s embassy to the Holy See lashed out at Parolin’s “deplorable statement” and said the Palestinian terror group Hamas bore all the blame for the death and destruction in the enclave.

But today, the embassy said it should have used the word “regrettable,” and that the mix-up was the result of an imprecise translation.

Pope Francis has regularly condemned violence across the Middle East and beyond. But any comments involving Israel have particular historical and cultural sensitivities, built up over centuries.

Relations between the Vatican and Israel have grown increasingly tense since the start of the war in Gaza, with Jewish groups accusing Pope Francis of failing to describe the invasion of the Palestinian enclave as an act of self-defense after the October 7 Hamas attacks.

The Israeli embassy says the original English text of its statement had used the word “regrettable” and its staff had translated that into “deplorevole” in the Italian version they released.

“A more precise” Italian translation would have been “sfortunata,” the embassy says, a word that means something more like unfortunate.