Jerusalem cancels Palm Sunday procession

 

 

Pope condemns ‘scandal’ of war

as Jerusalem cancels Palm Sunday procession

 

Patrick Hudson, Aili Winstanley Channer 

23 March 2026, The Tablet 

 

The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem designated 28 March to pray the Rosary ‘to implore the gift of peace and serenity, especially for those suffering because of the conflict’.

 

Pope Leo again voiced his “dismay” at the war in the Middle East as he appealed for a halt to violence around the world.

“We cannot remain silent in the face of the suffering of so many defenceless people who are victims of these conflicts,” he said after the Angelus on Sunday, deploring how the Middle Easy “like other regions of the world is torn apart by war and violence”.

“What hurts them hurts all of humanity. The death and pain caused by these wars is a scandal for the entire human family and a cry that rises to God,” the Pope said.

“I strongly renew my appeal to persevere in prayer, so that hostilities may cease and paths to peace may finally open, based on sincere dialogue and respect for the dignity of every human person.”

 

On Monday, in an address to a delegation from Italy’s national airline ITA Airways, Pope Leo condemned the use of aircraft for bombings, insisting that aeroplanes “should always be carriers of peace, never of war”.

“No one should be afraid that threats of death and destruction might come from the sky,” he said. “After the tragic experience of the twentieth century, aerial bombings should have been banned forever.”

 

He condemned the “regression” of technological development “being placed at the service of war”.

 

Israel continued to exchange strikes with Iran and its proxies last week, leading the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem to cancel its Palm Sunday procession from the Mount of Olives into Jerusalem and to postpone the Chrism Mass for the diocese.

 

“The restrictions imposed by the conflict and the events of recent days do not bode well for any imminent improvement,” said the Latin Patriarch Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa in an announcement on Sunday confirming that large public liturgies would not take place.

“In constant dialogue with the competent authorities, together with the other Christian Churches, we are evaluating how, in the ways to be agreed upon, we can celebrate the central mystery of our salvation in the heart of our Churches.”

 

He said this was “a wound that adds to the many others inflicted by the conflict” but urged Catholics to continue to pray for peace, designating 28 March to pray the Rosary “to implore the gift of peace and serenity, especially for those suffering because of the conflict”.

 

The announcement followed reports that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre faces closure during Holy Week, which prompted Church leaders in Jerusalem to confirm that liturgies would continue even if the public could not attend.

 

On Saturday, the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land said in a statement: “The community of Franciscan friars present at the Holy Sepulchre has never ceased, day or night, to carry out the scheduled celebrations, the rites, the daily processions, and the liturgical prayers according to the provisions of the Status Quo [the agreement governing shared use of the church].

“Even during these days, although access to the basilica is restricted to the faithful for security reasons, prayer continues unceasingly in the Holy Places.”

 

On Tuesday, the Palestinian and Israeli women’s movements Women of the Sun and Women Wage Peace will together lead a barefoot walk through Rome to call for compassion, justice, and peace.  

 

In May 2024 Pope Francis signed their “Mothers’ Call” for a future of peace, freedom, equality, rights and security for children and the next generations.  

“For decades, mothers on both sides have borne the unbearable – grieving children lost to violence and fearing for those who remain,” the groups said in a statement. “From this shared pain comes an extraordinary act of courage: Palestinian and Israeli mothers walking together, barefoot, for peace.

“Walking barefoot is a universal gesture of humility and humanity. It is also a way to reconnect with the land that has absorbed both blood and tears, to feel the pain that unites mothers everywhere and the earth that sustains us all.  Every step we take is a call for life, for safety, for the future every child deserves.”

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Pope condemns ‘scandal’ of war as Jerusalem cancels Palm Sunday procession - The Tablet