Israel Blocks Latin Patriarch From Holy Sepulchre On Palm Sunday For ‘First Time In Centuries’ – The Cradle
Israel Blocks Latin Patriarch From Holy Sepulchre On Palm Sunday For ‘First Time In Centuries’
Palestinian Christians suffer regular persecution from Israel’s ultra-Orthodox and religious nationalist Jews
The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem was prevented from holding Palm Sunday mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre “for the first time in centuries” on 29 March, after Israeli police blocked him and others from entering the church.
Citing security concerns over the Iran war as a pretext, Israeli police stopped Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa and Friar Francesco Ielpo while walking to the church, which was built on the site where Christians believe Jesus was crucified and resurrected from the dead nearly two thousand years ago.
“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,” the Latin Patriarchate said in a statement.
“This incident is a grave precedent, and disregards the sensibilities of billions of people around the world who, during this week, look to Jerusalem,” the statement added.
Police said they had rejected a request from the Patriarchate for a Palm Sunday exemption, claiming that rescue vehicles could not access the site in the case of a mass casualty incident resulting from the war with Iran.
Farid Jubran, a spokesperson for the Patriarchate, told Reuters that police had been informed that the mass would be held privately and behind closed doors…
Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week and commemorates the day Christians believe Jesus entered Jerusalem, welcomed by his followers who placed palm leaves in his path as he rode into the city on a donkey. Easter is celebrated a week later, to mark Jesus’s crucifixion and resurrection…
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni criticized the Israeli action… France’s President Emmanuel Macron condemned the decision as well, saying that it “adds to the worrying increase in violations of the status of the Holy Places in Jerusalem.”…
Under Israeli rule, Christians in the 1948 territories and the occupied West Bank suffer regular persecution, including spitting on clergy, physical harassment, and the vandalism and destruction of churches, cemeteries, and other Christian symbols.
The harassment is carried out by ultra-Orthodox Jews and Jewish religious nationalists and goes largely unchecked by Israeli police.
🔗SOURCE ➡️ The Cradle
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