Israel's withdrawal of condolences for Pope Francis sparks diplomatic tensions.

The Israeli government retracted an online message offering condolences over the death of Pope Francis, who died on Monday aged 88, sparking a diplomatic controversy.

The message, which was posted on the verified @Israel account on X before being deleted, read: “Rest in Peace, Pope Francis. May his memory be a blessing,” accompanied by an image of Francis during a 2014 visit to the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

The Israeli foreign affairs ministry reportedly instructed its embassies worldwide to delete previously posted tributes to the late pontiff, prompting widespread criticism, including from Israeli diplomats and international religious leaders.

No official explanation was given for the move. Israeli ambassadors were also ordered not to sign books of condolence at Vatican embassies, Italian state broadcaster RAI reports.

Raphael Schutz, who served until last year as Israel’s ambassador to the Holy See, told The Jerusalem Post: “I think the decision is a mistake. We shouldn’t keep score like this after someone’s death."

Although Israel's president Isaac Herzog expressed condolences to the Catholic world on the passing of the pontiff, there was notable silence from prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar, neither of whom issued any comment or statement about the pope’s death.

The Jerusalem Post reports that the silence is "directly linked" to the pope’s recent statements regarding Israel and the war in Gaza.

Israeli foreign ministry officials told The Jerusalem Post that the message was "posted in error", adding: "We responded to the Pope’s statements against Israel and the war during his lifetime, and we will not do so after his death. We respect the feelings of his believers.”

During an Angelus address at the Vatican on 22 December, Pope Francis said: "With pain I think of Gaza, of so much cruelty, of the children who are machine-gunned, of the bombings of schools and hospitals - how much cruelty".

Some of his most explicit criticism of Israel came last year with the publication of excerpts of an upcoming book in which he claimed: "According to some experts, what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide".

Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, on Tuesday described Israel's deletion of the condolences as "pure madness" and "an unimaginable gesture".

Speaking on the Italian television programme È sempre Cartabianca, Paglia said: "Netanyahu is not right from any point of view. Francis wanted everyone to be at peace, for both peoples to live together."

The pope's funeral is scheduled for Saturday morning and given that it will take place on Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath, there were initially doubts about the presence of an Israeli official.

However it was subsequently announced that Israel's ambassador to the Holy See, Yaron Zeidman, would attend the funeral. The Israeli embassy to the Holy See confirmed this to Italian news agency Adnkronos, RAI reports.

Every night for the past 19 months, up until two days before his death, Pope Francis telephoned the Holy Family Church in Gaza, to speak to church leaders, members of the tiny Christian population in the besieged territory.

In his Urbi et Orbi address on Easter Sunday - his last public appearance the day before he died - Francis recalled the "dramatic and deplorable humanitarian situation" in Gaza and appealed to the "warring parties" to "call a ceasefire, release the hostages and come to the aid of a starving people that aspires to a future of peace!"

Photo: Alexandros Michailidis / Shutterstock.com.