BREAKING
Israel blocks Catholic Cardinal from holy site on Palm Sunday over safety concerns
Israel Blocks Catholic Cardinal From Holy Site On Palm Sunday Over Safety Concerns
Israeli police prevented senior Catholic leaders from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Palm Sunday, marking what church authorities say is the first time in centuries that the site’s top clerics were barred from celebrating one of Christianity’s most sacred observances.According to a joint statement from the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Custody of the Holy Land, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, and Father Francesco Ielpo, the Custos of the Holy Land and official guardian of the church, were stopped en route to the church and turned back by police.The two clerics were traveling privately and “without any characteristics of a procession or ceremonial act,” the statement said, yet were still denied entry to the site where they were scheduled to celebrate Palm Sunday Mass. “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 statement noted, calling the incident “a grave precedent” that disregards “the sensibilities of billions of...
