Jerusalem versus Vatican
Christians in Tanzania and the rest of East Africa have always held Israel as the foundation of their faith, but it seems Tel Aviv is not reciprocating the same gesture towards the faith.
For instance, the Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu only managed to send a message of condolence to the Catholic community four days after the death of Pope Francis.
Furthermore, Premier Netanyahu was forced to dispatch the message after the Christian community in Israel slammed him for being disrespectful to the Catholic Church.
As it happens, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Israel had previously posted a message of condolence to the Vatican and the Catholic community around the world, immediately after the Pope’s death was announced.
But somehow the Ministerial message of condolence was deleted after only two hours.
The government of Israel later claimed the message was deleted by mistake.
Despite being the cradle of Christianity, after all, Jesus is believed to have been a Jew, Israel has also refused to send a senior official to the funeral in Rome.
Instead, Israel decided that it will be represented at the event by its ambassador to the Vatican.
Tension between Israel and Pope Francis heightened over the late Pontiff’s stand on the war in Gaza.
As the war in the Middle East heated up in November 2024, Pope Francis called upon the international community to investigate whether Israel was committing acts of genocide in the Gaza strip.
According to observers, that could be the main reason why Tel-Aviv was snubbing the Vatican over the death of Pope Francis.