After widespread outrage over its refusal to let top Catholic figures pray at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to celebrate Palm Sunday, the Israel Police announced that it had reached an agreement with the Latin Patriarchate to allow limited prayer at the Christian holy site.

Later on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he had ordered that Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the most senior Catholic official in Israel, “be granted full and immediate access” to the church.

The statements came after police blocked Pizzaballa, Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, and Father Francesco Ielpo, custos of the Holy Land, from the church on Palm Sunday, which commemorates the day Jesus traditionally rode into Jerusalem, where he was greeted by cheering crowds bearing palm fronds, according to the New Testament. The day marks the start of Holy Week, which ends with Easter, this year on April 5.

The institutions led by Pizzaballa and Ielpo said after the incident that it set a “grave precedent,” and that it “disregards the sensibilities” of billions of Christians who celebrate Holy Week.

Initially, police as well as Netanyahu’s office defended the refusal as a security measure amid the war with Iran, which has seen missile fragments impact the Old City, including near the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

But later in the day, two police officials — Jerusalem District Commander Deputy Commissioner Avshalom Peled and David Sub-District Commander Dvir Tamim — met with a representative of the Latin Patriarchate. They agreed on a framework that will allow all Christian denominations to worship in the church while the Iran war continues, said the police.

A police official told The Times of Israel that the details of the framework........

© The Times of Israel