Israeli police stop Cardinal Pizzaballa and Custos Ielpo on Palm Sunday
Israeli police in Jerusalem carried out a wanton act of intimidation against the cardinal and the custos of the Holy Land, who were prevented from privately entering the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre to celebrate Palm Sunday Mass this morning. The Patriarchate protested the lack of respect for “the sensibilities of billions of people around the world who, during this week, look to Jerusalem.” Prayers will be held this afternoon at the Dominus Flevit.
Jerusalem (AsiaNews) – In Jerusalem, where Interior Minister Ben Gvir’s police are now targeting everyone using war as a pretext without answering to anyone, a serious act of intimidation directly affected the Christian community this morning.
The Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, and the Custos of the Holy Land, Brother Francesco Ielpo, were detained as they made their way along the few hundred metres in the Old City that separate their home from the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre, to celebrate Palm Sunday Mass.
This liturgy, as is often the case these days, was set to take place inside a shuttered church, without the faithful, in compliance with orders issued by Israeli authorities for all religious groups. Despite this, the two prominent representatives of the Catholic community were prevented from entering the basilica.
Cardinal Pizzaballa and Brother Ielpo “were stopped en route, while proceeding privately and without any characteristics of a procession or ceremonial act, and were compelled to turn back,” reads a joint statement issued by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Custody of the Holy Land. “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.
“This incident,” the statement goes on to say, “is a grave precedent, and disregard 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 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 statement laments.
“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.”
Precisely because of the restrictions imposed by the war in Jerusalem, the traditional procession that goes from the Mount of Olives to the Church of Saint Anne on the afternoon of Palm Sunday, retracing Jesus's festive entry, was cancelled this year. This is a particularly painful for what is the most important gathering for the Catholic community in the Holy Land.
In lieu of the ritual, this afternoon, Patriarch Pizzaballa will hold a blessing of the city with the cross at 3:30 pm, from the terrace of the Dominus Flevit shrine, as was done in 2020 during the COVID-19 crisis.
The Dominus Flevit is a reminder of these ever-timely words of Jesus: “As he drew near, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, ‘If this day you only knew what makes for peace – but now it is hidden from your eyes’” (Luke, 19:41-42).
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24/06/2016 13:47
