Church of the Holy Sepulchre: Israeli police prohibit Cardinal from coming into | EUROtoday

In Israel, police prevented the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem from celebrating the normal Palm Sunday Mass within the Church of the Holy Sepulcher at the beginning of Holy Week. Pierbattista Pizzaballa, head of the Patriarchate, and one other church consultant had been banned from coming into the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem “for the first time in centuries,” the Patriarchate mentioned in an announcement on Sunday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mentioned there was “no evil intent” behind the police actions.

“The fact that the Cardinal and the Custos, who are the most senior representatives of the Catholic Church in the holy places, were denied access, constitutes a manifestly inappropriate and completely disproportionate measure,” the Patriarchate mentioned in its assertion.

Israeli police identified that each one holy websites in Jerusalem have been closed for the reason that begin of the Iran warfare on the finish of February. The patriarch’s request “could therefore not be approved,” it mentioned in an announcement. The police additionally referred to the “complex situation” in Jerusalem’s Old City, which might make it tougher for emergency autos to be deployed within the occasion of a “mass incident”.

Public gatherings are at the moment restricted to round 50 contributors due to the Iran warfare. The Latin Patriarchate had subsequently already introduced that it might forego the normal Palm Sunday procession. This normally leads from the Mount of Olives to the Old City of Jerusalem and attracts hundreds of believers.

“Church leaders have behaved responsibly and complied with all restrictions imposed since the beginning of the war,” the Patriarchate mentioned. In his view, the conduct of the police “violates the basic principles of reason and religious freedom.”

Prime Minister Netanyahu justified the transfer with safety considerations. The Israeli police prevented the patriarch from holding the mass “out of particular concern for his safety.” “Again, there was no malicious intent, just concern for his safety and that of his companions,” Netanyahu mentioned on the web service X.

Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, nonetheless, mentioned the police’s actions had been “an insult not only to believers, but to every community that recognizes religious freedom.” Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani wrote to X that he had summoned the Israeli ambassador to Rome. The dialog is scheduled for Monday.

Criticism additionally got here from French President Emmanuel Macron. “I condemn the decision of the Israeli police,” Macron mentioned on Pizzaballa has his “full support”.

Pope Leo XIV didn’t remark straight on the ban. Instead, in his Angelus prayer in Rome on Sunday, he remembered Christians within the Middle East, “who in many cases cannot fully experience the rites of these holy days.”