Israeli police officers prevented two senior Roman Catholic leaders in Jerusalem from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Palm Sunday, inciting a wave of outrage from local church officials and some world leaders at the start of the holiest week on the Christian calendar.
The Israeli police said they blocked the leaders — Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, and the Rev. Francesco Ielpo, the official guardian of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre — from the church out of concerns for their safety. The church is among the holy sites of all religions in Israel that have been largely closed to the public since the war with Iran began.
The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Custody of the Holy Land said in a statement that it was “the first time in centuries” that senior church officials had been unable to celebrate Palm Sunday Mass at the church. According to tradition, the church was built on the site in Jerusalem where Jesus Christ was both crucified and buried.
The statement said the two church leaders were traveling privately and not part of “a procession or ceremonial act” when they were barred from going to the church. The statement described the episode as a “grave precedent.”
Dean Elsdunne, an Israeli police spokesman, said the church leaders had been blocked from the building because the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, in Jerusalem’s Old City, would be difficult to access in an emergency.
“The narrow alleys of the Old City, where emergency and rescue vehicles cannot quickly arrive to a scene or victims, means a single incident can become a tragedy,” he said.
World leaders including Giorgia Meloni, the Italian prime minister, condemned the decision. Ms. Meloni called it an “offense” to the faithful, while Antonio Tajani, Italy’s foreign minister, said he had summoned the Israeli ambassador to discuss the matter.
President Emmanuel Macron of France said on social media post that Sunday’s episode joined “a concerning sequence of violations of the status of the holy sites in Jerusalem.”
And the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, a Baptist minister, described the episode as an “unfortunate overreach already having major repercussions around the world.”
Small religious gatherings have been permitted across Israel despite security precautions, Mr. Huckabee said, making the decision to deny entry to the two Catholic leaders “difficult to understand or justify.”
The closures of holy sites have stemmed from a lack of sheltered spaces amid frequent missile attacks from Iran, according to Israeli officials. Earlier this month, shrapnel from an Iranian missile that fell in the Old City of Jerusalem came close to hitting the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The Al Aqsa Mosque compound, which is sacred to both Muslims and Jews, was also hit by debris.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that the decision to block the church officials had been made “out of special concern” for their safety, and said there was no malicious intent. His office added that Israeli officials would work to “enable church leaders to worship at the holy site in the coming days,” citing the coming Easter holiday.
Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, said he called Cardinal Pizzaballa following Sunday’s episode to “express his great sorrow” over its handling.
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