Israeli police have prevented the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem from marking Palm Sunday at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre "for the first time in centuries," the Patriarchate said, with police citing security concerns linked to the Iran war.
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa and Friar Francesco Ielpo were stopped by police while walking to the church, built on the site where Christians believe Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem 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," it said in a statement.
Israeli police said all holy sites in Jerusalem's Old City - including those sacred to Christians, Muslims and Jews - had been closed to worshippers since the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran, particularly locations without bomb shelters.
Police said they had rejected a request from the Patriarchate for a Palm Sunday exemption.
"The Old City and the holy sites constitute a complex area that does not allow access for large emergency and rescue vehicles, which significantly challenges response capabilities and poses a real risk to human life in the event of a mass casualty incident," police said.
Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week, the most important week in the Christian calendar, leading to Easter. The Old City would typically be busy, with Roman Catholics passing through the massive wooden doors of the Holy Sepulchre.
This year, Christians, Muslims and Jews have been unable to observe Easter, Ramadan or Passover as usual due to police restrictions.
Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque was largely empty during Ramadan, and few worshippers have come to Judaism's Western Wall as Passover approaches on Wednesday.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni criticised the police action, saying in a statement that denying entry to religious leaders "constitutes an offence not only to believers but for every community that recognises religious freedom."
Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on social media that he would summon Israel's ambassador over the incident.
France's President Emmanuel Macron condemned the Israeli police's decision, which he said "adds to the worrying increase in violations of the status of the Holy Places in Jerusalem."
Spokespeople for Israel's Foreign Ministry and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not immediately comment.
Residents of the Old City and religious officials said police restrictions on worship had not been implemented consistently.
They noted that Muslim Waqf preachers were able to access Al-Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr, and that cleaners were permitted ahead of Passover to remove prayer notes from the Western Wall, an annual ritual.
Today, Franciscan friars and worshippers were also allowed into another Old City shrine, a short walk through the Old City's narrow alleyways from the Holy Sepulchre, to mark Palm Sunday.
Farid Jubran, a spokesperson for the Patriarchate, said police had been informed the Mass would be held privately and behind closed doors. "But still despite this communication they insisted on acting this way," he said.
Pope Leo says God rejects prayers of leaders who wage wars
Earlier today, Pope Leo said that God rejects the prayers of leaders who start wars and have "hands full of blood", in unusually forceful remarks.
Addressing tens of thousands of people in St Peter's Square on Palm Sunday, the celebration that opens the holiest week ofthe year in the lead-up to Easter for the world's 1.4 billion Catholics, the pontiff said that Jesus cannot be used to justify any wars.
"This is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war," Leo, the first US pope, told crowds in brilliant sunshine.
"(Jesus) does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them, saying: 'Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: your hands are full of blood'," he said, citing a bible passage.
Pope Leo did not specifically name any world leaders, but he has been ramping up criticism of the Iran war in recent weeks.
The pope, who is known for choosing his words carefully, has repeatedly called for an immediate ceasefire in the conflict and said on Monday that military airstrikes are indiscriminate and should be banned.
Some US officials have invoked Christian language to justify the joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran.
