Israeli police prevent church officials from entering Jerusalem church for Palm Sunday mass

LAST UPDATE | 2 hrs ago

ISRAELI POLICE PREVENTED two senior church officials from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem this morning as they made their way to celebrate Palm Sunday mass.

The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem – the office of the head of the Catholic Church in Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa – detailed the incident in a joint statement with the Franciscan entity The Custody of the Holy Land.

The Custody of the Holy Land has maintained an 800-year presence in the Middle East and support local Christian communities. It provides humanitarian support to areas including Gaza.

The statement said the Cardinal and Father Francesco Ielpo, the latter the Custos of the Holy Land and official Guardian of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, were on their way to the church when they were stopped by police. 

“The two were stopped en route, while proceeding privately and without any characteristics of a procession or ceremonial act, and were compelled to turn back,” the statement said.

“As a result, and for the first time in centuries, the Heads of the Church were prevented from celebrating the Palm Sunday Mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

“This incident is a grave precedent, and disregard the sensibilities of billions of people around the world who, during this week, look to Jerusalem.”

The statement continued and said the heads of the church have “acted with full responsibility” and have complied with imposed restrictions since the outset of the war. 

The church had cancelled the traditional Palm Sunday procession from the Mount of Olives to Jerusalem in light of the current war in the Middle East.

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“Preventing the entry of the Cardinal and the Custos, who bear the highest ecclesiastical responsibility for the Catholic Church and the Holy Places, constitutes a manifestly unreasonable and grossly disproportionate measure,” it said.

It said the “hasty and fundamentally flawed decisions” showed a departure from reasonableness, freedom of worship, and respect for the status quo.

The two entities wished to express their “profound sorry” to Christians in the area and globally, “that prayer on one of the most sacred days of the Christian calendar has thus been prevented”.

‘An offence to the faithful’

French president Emmanuel Macron has condemned the Israeli police, saying their actions “adds to a worrying series of violations of the status of holy places in Jerusalem”. 

Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni said the incident was “an offence not only to the faithful but to any community that respects religious freedom”.

Italy’s foreign minister Antonio Tajani separately said on X he had summoned Israel’s ambassador over the incident.

In St Peter’s Square at the Vatican, Pope Leo used his Palm Sunday homily to reject claims that God justifies war.

“Brothers and sisters, this is our God: Jesus, king of peace, who rejects war, whom no-one can use to justify war,” the pope told the tens of thousands gathered.

“He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them.”

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