Israel Allows Latin Patriarch to Enter Jerusalem’s Church of the Resurrection After International Criticism

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierrepatista Pitsapaala, would be granted full and immediate access to the Church of the Resurrection in Jerusalem. Netanyahu said on the X platform that he had instructed the competent authorities to grant that access. The announcement followed widespread international anger over an earlier decision that had blocked the cardinal from entering the church.

According to the reports, the cardinal and the Guardian of the Holy Land, Francesco Elbo, were prevented from entering the church as they went to celebrate a Palm Sunday service. In a joint statement issued on Sunday, the Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem and the Custody of the Holy Land expressed regret that, “for the first time in centuries, church leaders were prevented from holding mass” for the occasion. The statement described the act as “a dangerous precedent that ignores the feelings of billions of people around the world who are looking at Jerusalem this week.”

The restrictions were part of wider security measures. At the start of the war launched jointly by Israel and the United States against Iran on 28 February, Israeli authorities banned large gatherings, including in Jewish synagogues, churches and mosques, and particularly at the Al-Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan. Public gatherings of about 50 people were identified as the threshold. Police said the old town and holy sites lie in a complex area that does not allow large emergency and rescue vehicles to enter, which, in their view, limits response capabilities in the event of a mass gathering. In mid-March, fragments of rockets intercepted in the old town, particularly near the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Church of the Resurrection, after Iranian strikes.

Netanyahu said Israel had asked Christian, Jewish and Muslim worshippers to refrain from visiting holy sites in the old town for security reasons, noting that holy places in Jerusalem had recently been targeted. In a statement published by his office on X, the government said there was “no malicious intent whatsoever, but merely concern for the safety of the Cardinal.” The statement added that, with Holy Week beginning around the world, Israeli security forces were working on a plan to allow religious leaders to pray at the Church of the Resurrection in the coming days. Expressing the value of worship access for every community in the city fits the broader call for peace in Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6).

Several governments responded to the incident. The French president condemned the decision of the Israeli police as part of what he called repeated and disturbing violations of the status of holy sites in Jerusalem. Italy’s prime minister denounced the police move in a Sunday statement. Spain summoned Israel’s chargé d’affaires in Madrid to object to the denial of access to the church and to demand that it not be repeated, according to Spain’s foreign minister, José Manuel Albares.

The reports also noted demographic context. According to 2023 estimates from the Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem, Christians made up more than 18% of the population of the Holy Land, a region that includes Jordan as well as Israel and the Palestinian territories, at the time the State of Israel was established in 1948. Today they account for less than 2%, and most of them are Orthodox.

Oman denounced what it called a “big breach” of international law and of the existing legal and historical status quo. It demanded that “all actions that impede the access of worshippers to their places of worship should cease.”

Source: Read the original report (translated from Arabic)