The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, presides over a prayer ceremony on the occasion of Palm Sunday in Jerusalem, on March 29, 2026, following the cancellation of the traditional procession from the Mount of Olives, due to restrictions on large gatherings and the war waged by the United States and Israel against Iran. (Credit: Ammar Awad/AFP)
The scale of the outcry was evident as even the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, joined international condemnation on Sunday, March 29, over Tel Aviv’s decision to bar the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to celebrate Palm Sunday Mass.It is an “unfortunate overreach,” said the former evangelical pastor, who added, “For the Patriarch to be barred from entry to the Church on Palm Sunday for a private ceremony is difficult to understand or justify,” he wrote. More controversial Israeli decisions Israel's Knesset approves death penalty law for Palestinian prisoners convicted of 'deadly attacks' On that day, as Easter approaches, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, and the Custos of the Holy Land, Father Francesco Ielpo, were denied entry to the basilica by...
The scale of the outcry was evident as even the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, joined international condemnation on Sunday, March 29, over Tel Aviv’s decision to bar the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to celebrate Palm Sunday Mass.It is an “unfortunate overreach,” said the former evangelical pastor, who added, “For the Patriarch to be barred from entry to the Church on Palm Sunday for a private ceremony is difficult to understand or justify,” he wrote. More controversial Israeli decisions Israel's Knesset approves death penalty law for Palestinian prisoners convicted of 'deadly attacks' On that day, as Easter approaches, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, and the Custos of the Holy Land, Father Francesco Ielpo, were denied entry to the basilica...
