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Israel barred Catholic officials from privately praying at a historic Jerusalem church for the first time in centuries over security concerns involving the war — sparking outcry from US Ambassador Mike Huckabee.
Catholic higher-ups were already told they could not hold Mass at the city’s famed Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where Jesus is believed to have been crucified and buried, on the holy day.
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Catholic patriarch of Jerusalem, and Father Francesco Ielpo, who oversees the sacred site, as well as two other priests were then on their way to the church for private prayer when they were halted by Israeli police early Sunday, Catholic officials said.
While Huckabee said it is reasonable for large gatherings to be put on pause amid Iran’s retaliatory bombardments, the US ambassador to Israel contended it is unacceptable for Israeli police to stop the four clergymen from making their own private visit to the church in Jersualem’s Old City.
“The action today by the Israel Nat’l Police to deny Latin Patriarch Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa and 3 other priests from entering the Church to offer a blessing on Palm Sunday is an unfortunate overreach already having major repercussions around the world,” Huckabee wrote on X.
The ambassador argued that the four men’s trip to recognize Palm Sunday was well within Israel’s Home Front Command Guidelines, which had restricted public gatherings to 50 people or less.
“For the Patriarch to be barred from entry to the Church on Palm Sunday for a private ceremony is difficult to understand or justify,” Huckabee said. “Israel has indicated it will work with the Patriarch to accommodate a safe means of carrying out Holy Week activities.”
Israeli police said in blocking the Mass, “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.”
As for the private prayers, the Israeli Foreign Ministry and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said police would be meeting with Pizzaballa to reach a compromise, the Jerusalem Post reported.
Netanyahu’s office insisted that there had been “no malicious intent whatsoever,” noting that an Iranian missile fragment had crashed into the church in previous days.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said he called Pizzaballa after the incident to apologize and express his “great sorrow.
“I clarified that the incident stemmed from security concerns due to the continuous threat of missile attacks from the Iranian terror regime against the civilian population in Israel, following previous incidents in which Iranian missiles fell in the area of the Old City of Jerusalem in recent days,” Herzog said.
Along with Huckabee, the Patriarchate and the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land both condemned the incident, noting it was the first time in centuries that heads of the Catholic Church were prevented from celebrating Palm Sunday at the historic site.
“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 Catholic groups said in a statement.
The organizations ultimately slammed the decision to stop the clergymen’s trip as “a manifestly unreasonable and grossly disproportionate measure.”
The fallout also led Italy’s foreign ministry to summon Jonathan Peled, Israel’s ambassador to Rome, to discuss the incident.
English (US)