Israel denies Cardinal Pizzaballa access to Church of the Holy Sepulchre, then backtracks

March 30, 2026

Israeli police prevented Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, O.F.M., from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to celebrate Palm Sunday Mass. Following international condemnation, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced he would permit Cardinal Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, to enter the church.

“This morning, the Israeli Police prevented the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, His Beatitude Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Head of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land, together with the Custos of the Holy Land, the Most Reverend Fr. Francesco Ielpo, OFM, the official Guardian of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, as they made their way to celebrate the Palm Sunday Mass,” according to a joint statement issued by the Latin Patriarchate and the Custody (Franciscan province) of the Holy Land.

“The two were stopped en route, while proceeding privately and without any characteristics of a procession or ceremonial act, and were compelled to turn back, the joint statement continued. “As a result, and 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 Latin Patriarchate and the Custody of the Holy Land denounced the incident as a “grave precedent”:

This incident is a grave precedent and disregard[s] the sensibilities of billions of people around the world who, during this week, look to Jerusalem.

The Heads of the Churches have acted with full responsibility and, since the outset of the [Iran] war, have complied with all imposed restrictions: public gatherings were cancelled, attendance was prohibited, and arrangements were made to broadcast the celebrations to hundreds of millions of faithful worldwide, who, during these days of Easter, turn their eyes to Jerusalem and to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Preventing the entry of the Cardinal and the Custos, who bear the highest ecclesiastical responsibility for the Catholic Church and the Holy Places, constitutes a manifestly unreasonable and grossly disproportionate measure. This hasty and fundamentally flawed decision, tainted by improper considerations, represents an extreme departure from basic principles of reasonableness, freedom of worship, and respect for the Status Quo.

The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Custody of the Holy Land express their profound sorrow to the Christian faithful in the Holy Land and throughout the world that prayer on one of the most sacred days of the Christian calendar has thus been prevented.

Cardinal Pizzaballa instead commemorated Palm Sunday at the Church of All Nations at Gethsemane. He preached:

From this holy place we learn to look upon the city with the eyes of Christ. We learn to mourn with him, but also to hope with him. For the same Jerusalem that rejected the Prince of Peace has also witnessed the empty tomb. War will not erase the resurrection. Grief will not extinguish hope.

Today we do not carry palms in procession. Instead, we carry the cross—a cross that is not a useless burden, but the source of true peace. We do not wave olive branches; rather, we choose to become builders of reconciliation, through every gesture, every word, every relationship.

Brothers and sisters, in this land that continues to wait for peace, we are called to be witnesses to a love that never gives up. May our journey of faith, even today, be a journey of hope. And may our lives, even amid the harshness of the present moment, bring the love of Christ and his light wherever darkness seems to prevail.

 

---

For all current news, visit our News home page.

---

 
Further information:

• Cardinal Pizzaballa prays for peace at Gethsemane on Palm Sunday (Vatican News, 3/29/26)
• Israeli police stop Latin Patriarch from entering Church of Holy Sepulchre (Vatican News, 3/29/26)