“Nothing like this has happened in recent centuries” at the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. Banned from police work and rumors at the Vatican

On the morning of Catholic Palm Sunday, the Israeli police prohibited the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, and the Custodian of the Holy Land, Franciscan Father Francesco Ielpo, from entering the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem to celebrate the Holy Liturgy on Palm Sunday according to the Roman or Latin rite, informs the Vatican News press agency.

It is an unprecedented fact in the history of recent centuries, and the fact was communicated through a joint press release of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land, informs the quoted source.

“Forbidding the entry of those who fulfill the highest ecclesiastical responsibilities for the Catholic Church and the Holy Places”, the press release notes, is “an obviously irrational and grossly disproportionate measure”. The decision of the Israeli police is considered by the two Catholic institutions in the Holy Land “hasty and fundamentally wrong, being tainted by improper considerations”, which “represents a serious departure from the fundamental principles of reasonableness, freedom of worship and respect provided in Standstill“.

Stop on the route by the Police

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa and the Franciscan priest Francesco Ielpo were stopped on the route “while advancing in private form and without any feature of procession or ceremonial act”, the Joint Note also mentions, the two Catholic leaders being forced to turn back.

It is for “the first time in the course of centuries”, it is highlighted in the Joint Note, when “it is prohibited for the heads of a Church to celebrate the Holy Liturgy on Palm Sunday in the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher”. It is “a very serious precedent” that ignores “the sensitivity of billions of people around the world who, during this week, turn their eyes to Jerusalem”.

The Latin Patriarch Pizzaballa and the Franciscan custodian of the Holy Land Ielpo “express their deep bitterness towards the Christian faithful from the Holy Land and from all over the world for the fact that the prayer of one of the most sacred days of the Christian calendar was forbidden in this way”, the statement reads.

On Palm Sunday, according to what was previously communicated by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, a prayer for peace is planned in the “Dominus Flevit” sanctuary on the Mount of Olives, presided over by the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem who invokes the blessing on the Holy City.

Prayer at the church in the Garden of Gethsemani

Later, contacted in Jerusalem during the afternoon by the Romanian Radio Vatican, the Catholic priest Cristian Văcaru confirmed the communication of the Patriarchate, as well as the fact that on Sunday 29 March this year, three alarms took place in approximately two hours in the west of the Holy Citadel: 13.22, 13.28 and 15.34. No human casualties or material damage were reported. The prayer for peace announced by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and originally scheduled at “Dominus Flevit” was finally performed at the church in the Garden of Gethsemane approximately 45 minutes later than the announced time.