Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has directed officials to allow the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem full access to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre after police initially barred him from a Palm Sunday service there.
The ancient basilica in Jerusalem’s Old City holds profound significance for Christians as the traditional site of Jesus Christ’s crucifixion, burial, and resurrection.
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa and Reverend Francesco Ielpo were turned away while seeking a discreet Holy Week Mass, an unprecedented snub described by the patriarchate as “the first time in centuries” on this day honouring Christ’s entry into Jerusalem.
Netanyahu cited urgent safety concerns amid Iran’s ballistic missile barrages on the city’s holy sites since the U.S.-Israel war ignited on 28 February.
“In one strike, missile fragments crashed meters from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,” he noted on X, emphasising “no malicious intent whatsoever” behind the decision, which extended to all faiths under broad Old City closures—including the cancelled Palm Sunday procession.
The patriarchate lambasted the block as a dangerous shift. “This incident is a grave precedent and disregards the sensibilities of billions of people around the world, who during this week, look to Jerusalem,” it stated, calling the hasty and fundamentally flawed decision a breach of basic principles of reasonableness, freedom of worship, and respect for the status quo.
Despite complying with all imposed restrictions, they deemed it a manifestly unreasonable and grossly disproportionate measure. Cardinal Pizzaballa urged dialogue, saying he did “not want to force the issue” over their request for just a brief and small private ceremony, aiming to try to clarify better in the coming days what to do, in respect for everyone’s safety but also in respect for the right to prayer.
Western leaders voiced outrage. U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee called it an “unfortunate overreach” difficult to understand or justify. Italy’s Giorgia Meloni labelled it “an offence not only against believers but against every community that recognises religious freedom,” while France’s Emmanuel Macron demanded “Freedom to hold religious rites in Jerusalem must be ensured for all religions.”
Pope Leo XIV mourned Middle Eastern Christians unable to “fully live the rites of these holy days.” Israel’s Isaac Herzog expressed great sorrow and reaffirmed commitments to religious freedoms.
Netanyahu’s late reversal grants the cardinal “full and immediate access” to hold services as he wishes, easing tensions in a war-strained holy city.