Police said to stop two top Catholic figures from reaching Holy Sepulchre for Palm Sunday Mass

Israeli police officers kept Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, and Father Francesco Ielpo, custos of the Holy Land, from reaching the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem’s Old City to celebrate the Palm Sunday Mass, say the Patriarchate and the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land.

According to the statement, the two top Catholic clergymen in the region were heading to the church privately, without a procession.

“This incident is a grave precedent, and disregards the sensibilities of billions of people around the world who, during this week, look to Jerusalem,” say the Catholic bodies.

The Patriarchate and the Custody say that they have “acted with full responsibility and, since the outset of the 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.”

They call the police decision “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,” they say, expressing 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.”

Israel Police say they will release a statement on the incident shortly.