The Digester
religion

Israel bars then allows Latin Patriarch access to Holy Sepulchre on Palm Sunday

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa said Israeli police likely underestimated the symbolic importance of his private Palm Sunday Mass when they barred him from the Holy Sepulchre for security reasons, a decision later reversed after international protests.

Mar 31st 2026 · Israel

Insights

  • Israeli police prevented Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa and three senior clerics from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for a private Palm Sunday Mass citing a capacity limit for security amid the war with Iran.
  • Pizzaballa said he did not believe the police acted with bad intent but that they underestimated the symbolic importance of the rite.
  • International criticism, including from European leaders and the US ambassador, prompted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to revoke the ban and apply the same criteria to all faiths.
  • For the rest of Holy Week services at the Holy Sepulchre will be closed to the public and limited to the ten resident friars and some bishops to preserve the liturgy.
  • Pizzaballa warned that Christian communities in the occupied West Bank already face travel restrictions and rising tensions from settler attacks.

Sources