(Adnkronos) – Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, will have “full and immediate access” Church of the Holy Sepulchre after his entry was barred by police on Sunday, sparking criticism from Italy and several other western nations.
In a statement on Sunday, Italy’s premier Giorgio Meloni said Israeli police’s denial of entry to the church by Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa and Catholic priest Francesco Ielpo was “an offence, not only for the faithful but for all communities which recognise freedom of religion”.
“The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is Christianity’s sacred site,” Meloni underlined.
Foreign minister Antonio Tajani said he had summoned Israel’s ambassador for an explanation.
All holy sites in Jerusalem’s Old City were been closed to worshippers for security reasons after the US-Israel war against Iran began on 28 February and the patriarchate’s request for a Palm Sunday exemption was rejected, Israeli police said.
Pizzaballa’s office said it was “the first time in centuries” a Latin Patriarch had been turned away from the holy site on Palm Sunday, which marks Christ’s return to Jerusalem.
He and Ielpo had been “compelled” to turn back from the church, where Christ was also believed to have been buried and subsequently resurrected, Pizzaballa’s office stated,
Pizzaballa and Ielpo sadi they were stopped outside the church – believed to be the site of Christ’s cruxifiction, burial and resurrection – on Palm Sunday, which marks Christ’s return to Jerusalem.
Netanyahu late Sunday instructed relevant authorities to grant the Latin Patriarch “full and immediate access” to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre so he can “hold services as he wishes,” he wrote on X.
Sunday’s decision to deny access to Pizzaballa and Ielpo involved “no malicious intent whatsoever,” Netanyahu stated, noting that in one strike, Iranian missile fragments crashed “metres” from the church.
