After the strong international repercussion over the ban on the entry of Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa and the Custodian of the Holy Land, Francesco Ielpo, into the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre, in Jerusalem, where they would celebrate Mass on Palm Sunday, the Israeli government allowed access to the church for religious people. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this Monday (local time) that the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem will be able to have “immediate access” to the Holy Sepulcher.
“I have instructed the competent authorities to grant Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa full and immediate access to the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem,” Netanyahu wrote on the social network X, following a series of criticisms about the attitude of the Israeli authorities.
Netanyahu explained that in recent days, Iran “repeatedly attacked the holy sites of the three monotheistic religions in Jerusalem with ballistic missiles” and that, on one occasion, “fragments fell just meters from the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.”
Earlier, the Israeli government had already explained the decision to prevent access to the two religious people was motivated by security reasons, due to the risk of attacks with Iranian ballistic missiles in the region, including in areas close to the Holy Sepulcher.
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