BREAKING

The State of Palestine has issued a statement CONDEMNING the decision to stop Cardinal Pizzaballa from privately celebrating Mass at the Holy Sepulchre on Palm Sunday

'The Ministry affirms that this arbitrary prevention, which has not occurred for centuries regarding church leadership performing their religious rites, constitutes a crime and an illegal military measure, and represents a flagrant violation of the basic rights of the Palestinian people, foremost among them freedom of worship, as well as a disregard for the sentiments of hundreds of millions of people around the world, and an affront to the feelings of Christians and Muslims who share in the sanctity of the city of Jerusalem and its religious and historical status, and a violation of the current legal and historical status quo'

@CatholicArena

🇮🇹 🇮🇱 BREAKING: Italian PM Giorgia Meloni "Preventing the Patriarch of Jerusalem and the Custodian of the Holy Land from entering, especially on a solemnity as central to the faith as Palm Sunday, constitutes an offense not only to believers, but to every community that recognizes religious freedom"

@CatholicArena

Rep. Riley M. Moore has spoken out on the incident at the Holy Sepulchre on Palm Sunday:

'I am deeply troubled by the news that Cardinal Pizaballa and the official guardian of the Holy Sepulcher were stopped by Israeli police and prevented from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulcher today.

As regrettable as it is not to allow public mass for the holiest days of the year at Christianity's most holy sites, barring private mass celebrated by the head of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land and the Custos of the Holy Sepulcher crosses the line.

I urge the Israeli government to reverse course and allow at least private liturgy during this Holy Week'

@CatholicArena

BREAKING

Israel's Foreign Ministry has released a statement claiming that a private Mass between Cardinal Pizzaballa and the Custos of the Holy Land violated rules on 'mass gatherings' and was shut down to prevent a 'mass casualty event':

'All safety and precautionary instructions in the Old City are a direct result of Iranian missile fire. As is known, the Iranian regime has fired on the Old City on multiple occasions, striking sites in the vicinity of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the Western Wall.

In light of this, and in order to protect the lives of worshippers of all faiths, precautionary instructions have been issued for all holy sites of all religions, and mass gatherings are not possible.

The concern over a mass-casualty event in the Old City is particularly acute given the area’s density and the difficulty of deploying first responders in such an incident.

The police will meet with Cardinal Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, and work to explore solutions that allow for as normal a routine as possible while ensuring public safety'

@CatholicArena

BREAKING 🇮🇱

Israel President Isaac Herzog has stated that he spoke with Cardinal Pizzaballa on the phone regarding today's incident at the Holy Sepulchre, expressing his 'sorrow'

Herzog did not state in his post whether or not Pizzaballa would be permitted to enter during the rest of Holy Week:

'I just called the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, His Beatitude Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, to express my great sorrow over this morning's unfortunate incident in the Old City of Jerusalem, in which Cardinal Pizzaballa and the Custos of the Holy Land, the Most Reverend Fr. Francesco Ielpo, were prevented from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for prayers amid the ongoing security situation.

I clarified that the incident stemmed from security concerns due to the continuous threat of missile attacks from the Iranian terror regime against the civilian population in Israel, following previous incidents in which Iranian missiles fell in the area of the Old City of Jerusalem in recent days.

I reaffirmed the State of Israel's unwavering commitment to freedom of religion for all faiths and to upholding the status quo at the holy sites of Jerusalem'

@CatholicArena

BREAKING 🇮🇹 🇮🇱

Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani has stated that they have SUMMONED the Israeli Ambassador over the incident involving Cardinal Pizzaballa at the Holy Sepulchre today

@CatholicArena

BREAKING 🇺🇸 🇮🇱

US Ambassador Mike Huckabee has released a statement questioning the rationale for Cardinal Pizzaballa being denied entry to the Holy Sepulchre today:

'While all Holy sites in the Old City are closed due to safety concerns for mass gatherings including the Western Wall, Church of the Holy Sepulcher and Al Aqsa Mosque, the action today by the Israel Nat'l Police to deny Latin Patriarch Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa and 3 other priests from entering the Church to offer a blessing on Palm Sunday is an unfortunate overreach already having major repercussions around the world.  Home Front Command Guidelines restrict any gatherings to 50 people or less.  The 4 representatives of the Catholic Church were well below that restriction.  Statements from the Gov't of Israel indicate the action to prohibit Cardinal Pizzaballa entry to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher were for safety reasons, but churches, synagogues, and mosques throughout Jerusalem have met with the restrictions of 50 or less.  For the Patriarch to be barred from entry to the Church on Palm Sunday for a private ceremony is difficult to understand or justify. Israel has indicated it will work with the Patriarch to accommodate a safe means of carrying out Holy Week activities'

@CatholicArena

🇫🇷 🇮🇱

French politician Jean Luc Melenchon has accused Benjamin Netanyahu of 'persecution' after Cardinal Pizzaballa was denied entry to the Holy Sepulchre on Palm Sunday:

'President Macron is right to support the Patriarch of Jerusalem against Netanyahu's persecution. The Holy Sepulchre is under French protection. Next week will be a significant time for Christian religious activity. France must not allow itself to be humiliated'

@CatholicArena

PALM SUNDAY

“Why are you untying it (the ass the disciples were sent to find), this must be your answer. The Lord has need of it.

Perhaps no greater paradox was ever written than this – on the one hand the sovereignty of the Lord, and on the other hand his ‘need.’

This combination of Divinity and dependence, of possession and poverty was the consequence of the Word becoming flesh.

Truly, he who was rich became poor for our sakes, that we might be rich.

Our Lord borrowed a boat from a fisherman from which to preach; he borrowed barley loaves and fishes from a boy to feed the multitude; he borrowed a grave from which he would rise; and now he borrowed an ass on which to enter Jerusalem.

Sometimes God preempts and requisitions the things of man, as if to remind him that everything is a gift from him.”

Archbishop Fulton Sheen

@CatholicArena

BREAKING 🇮🇱 🇻🇦

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated that he has instructed authorities to give Cardinal Pizzaballa 'full and immediate access' to the Holy Sepulchre for Holy Week

Netanyahu wrote on social media:

'I have instructed the relevant authorities that Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch, be granted full and immediate access to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

Over the past several days, Iran has repeatedly targeted the holy sites of all three monotheistic religions in Jerusalem with ballistic missiles. In one strike, missile fragments crashed meters from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

To protect worshippers, Israel asked members of all faiths to temporarily abstain from worshipping at the Christian, Muslim and Jewish holy sites in Jerusalem’s Old City.

Today, out of special concern for his safety, Cardinal Pizzaballa was asked to refrain from holding mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Even though I understand this concern, as soon as I learned about the incident with Cardinal Pizzaballa, I instructed the authorities to enable the Patriarch to hold services as he wishes'

@CatholicArena

BREAKING 🔬

New DNA evidence PROVES that the Shroud of Turin passed through the Middle East

The DNA results also reveal DNA from India, with fine linens and cloths imported from there to Jerusalem during this time, and also from saline environment, possibly the Dead Sea

@CatholicArena

TODAY in Jerusalem

Cardinal Pizzaballa kisses the Stone of Anointing in the Holy Sepulchre

This is the spot where the body of Jesus Christ was laid out and prepared for burial

@CatholicArena

'Our Lord used many pulpits during His public life. But all faded into insignificance compared to the pulpit which He mounted now—the pulpit of the Cross'

Fulton Sheen

@CatholicArena

Cardinal Pizzaballa walking the streets of Jerusalem on Good Friday

@CatholicArena

BREAKING 🇮🇪

Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan leads THOUSANDS through Waterford City as he carries the Cross BAREFOOT on Good Friday 💪

@CatholicArena

'We are in the place where a stone once sealed death. And yet today we are here to celebrate life. There is a tension we cannot ignore: outside, the doors of the Holy Sepulchre are closed. War has turned this place into a refuge, an “inside” cut off from an “outside” weighed down by fear and strain. We are here as within a womb of peace, while the world around us is being torn apart, and we wish we could change all of this. 

And yet, here and now, the Word of God places before us a gesture that overturns all our human ways of thinking'

Cardinal Pizzaballa at the Holy Sepulchre

@CatholicArena

BREAKING 🇺🇸 🇮🇷 🇮🇱

Archbishop Timothy Broglio, head of the Catholic Archdiocese for the Military Services USA, has said that the Iran War does NOT meet a Just War criteria

He told CBS News:

'I do think that it’s hard to cast this war as something that would be sponsored by the Lord'

@CatholicArena

Happy Easter! Christ is Risen ✝️

BREAKING 🇻🇦 🇺🇸

President of the US Bishops, Archbishop Paul Coakley, has called on US President Donald Trump to 'step back from the precipice of war and negotiate a just settlement for the sake of peace and before more lives are lost'

He added 'The threat of destroying a whole civilization and the intentional targeting of civilian infrastructure cannot be morally justified'

@CatholicArena

BREAKING 🇻🇦

Pope Leo XIV will lead a Prayer Vigil for Peace in Saint Peter's Basilica on Saturday 11th April

@CatholicArena

BREAKING 🇺🇸 🇻🇦

JD Vance has responded to claims that some at the PENTAGON had THREATENED the VATICAN

Vance was in Budapest when he responded to a story claiming that Cardinal Christophe Pierre was given a 'bitter lecture' at the Pentagon, with references allegedly made to the Avignon Papacy and instructions that the Vatican 'better take its sides

Secretary of Defense Elbridge Colbyis reported to have summoned the cardinal to the Pentagon, having apparently taken issue with the pope's message about peace to the Diplomatic Corps in January

When asked about the story this evening, Vance initially did not recall who the cardinal was before recollecting and stating that he wants to hear the story from Cardinal Pierre and 'quite frankly from our own people'

@CatholicArena