Category: Diocese of Scranton News

SCRANTON – The Diocese of Scranton is proud to announce the results of its fifth annual Rectory, Set, Cook! pastor chef cooking competition – and once again – the event has set a new benchmark for generosity.

At the close of this year’s campaign, Rectory, Set, Cook! raised a record-breaking $234,779 from 2,031 donors, making this year’s competition the most successful in its five-year history.

Between Feb. 17 and March 27, 2026, the popular online fundraiser brought together priests from across northeastern and north central Pennsylvania in a friendly and creative culinary showdown, all in support of anti-hunger and anti-homelessness initiatives of Catholic Social Services of the Diocese of Scranton.

“This year’s Rectory, Set, Cook! once again showed the incredible generosity of our community,” Shannon Kowalski, Development Coordinator for Catholic Social Services, said. “Each year, this event continues to grow, not only in the amount of money raised but the number of people who get involved and support our mission.”

At the conclusion of the competition, at exactly 4 p.m. on March 27, the following pastor chefs and teams were named the 2026 Top Chefs:

First Place:
Father Jose Kuriappilly, Father Dan Toomey, and Team Bradford County
Parish(es): Saints Peter and Paul Parish, Towanda; Epiphany Parish, Sayre; Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish, Wyalusing
Total Raised: $32,524.06

Second Place:
Father James Paisley
Parish(es): Saint Ann Basilica Parish, Scranton
Total Raised: $31,829.52

Third Place:
Father Glenn McCreary and Father Dias Antony Valiamarathungal
Parish(es): Saint Boniface Parish, Williamsport; Saint Ann Parish, Williamsport
Total Raised: $31,363.92

Fourth Place:
Monsignor Jack Bendik, Father Phil Sladicka, and Father Jake Doris
Parish(es): Representing Retired Clergy of Villa Saint Joseph, Dunmore
Total Raised: $30,034.81

Fifth Place:
Father Kevin Miller, Father Neftali Feliz Sena, and Father Benito Aquino
Parish(es): Saint Pius of Pietrelcina Parish, Hazleton
Total Raised: $17,248.00

“We are truly honored and humbled to have finished first in this year’s Rectory, Set, Cook! contest,” Father Kuriappilly said on behalf of the winning team. “This achievement does not belong simply to us priests, but to all the people who supported and encouraged us along the way. We also congratulate all our brother priests who participated in this year’s event!”

The true impact of Rectory, Set, Cook! extends far beyond the friendly competition in the kitchen.

“The real winners are the individuals and families who benefit from the outpouring of support,” Kowalski added. “These funds all Catholic Social Services to continue providing essential services to those who rely on our food pantries, kitchens and emergency shelters throughout the year.”

Since its launch in 2022, the competition has grown steadily each year – raising $171,747 in its inaugural year, followed by $197,412 in 2023, $218,001 in 2024, $227,162 in 2025, and now surpassing that total again in 2026. With this year’s success, the initiative has now raised more than $1 million overall.

Numerous community partners also helped to make Rectory, Set, Cook! successful this year, including Hawk Family Foundation, Discover NEPA, Creative Benefits, Inc., Grimm Construction, Inc., Topp Business Solutions, MMQ & Associates, P.C., Troy Mechanical, Inc., Damage Control, Inc., DePietro’s Pharmacy, and Tambur Family Foundation.

SCRANTON – The month of April is Child Abuse Prevention Month. It is a time to recognize the importance of families and communities working together to prevent child mistreatment.

The Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, will celebrate a Healing Mass for Survivors of Abuse at 12:10 p.m. on Thursday, April 9, 2026, at the Cathedral of Saint Peter in Scranton.

The Healing Mass provides space for those affected by abuse to find solace, strength, and support. Through prayer, reflection, and healing, the Diocese of Scranton remains committed to offering care and compassion to survivors.

The Mass will be broadcast live on CTV: Catholic Television of the Diocese of Scranton and livestream on the Diocese of Scranton website, YouTube channel and social media.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Leo XIV urged Catholics to reject comfort, power and domination and instead embrace a mission rooted in self-giving love, even when it requires risk, vulnerability and suffering.

As Catholics prepare for Easter on Holy Thursday, Pope Leo also called on the faithful in his homily to overcome fear and a sense of powerlessness in responding to the world’s crises.

“In this dark hour of history, it has pleased God to send us to spread the fragrance of Christ where the stench of death reigns,” he said April 2 at St. Peter’s Basilica during Mass. “Let us renew our ‘yes’ to this mission that calls for unity and brings peace.”

While grounding his remarks in the teaching of his predecessors, saints and clergy, the pope in this homily placed particular emphasis on the Church’s mission through his own eyes as a missionary.

The first step of accepting the Christian mission, he said, is to risk leaving behind what is familiar and certain, in order to venture into something new.

“Every mission begins with that kind of self-emptying in which everything is reborn,” he said.

It is through this self-emptying that Christians encounter the love of Christ, the pope said.

At the heart of his first Holy Thursday homily as pope, he reflected on the nature of Christian love, saying it is rooted not in power, but in self-giving.

“Jesus’ journey reveals to us that the willingness to lose oneself, to empty oneself, is not an end in itself, but a condition for encounter and intimacy,” Pope Leo said. “Love is true only when it is unguarded.”

He said true peace is not found in remaining comfortable, but in embracing the risk and detachment that mission requires. Calling it a “fundamental secret of mission,” the pope said “everything is restored and multiplied if it is first let go, without fear,” a process repeated “in every new beginning, in every new sending forth.”

God calls upon the faithful to take risks, so “no place becomes a prison, no identity a hiding place,” he said. Every mission requires reconciliation with the past, with the “gifts and limitations of the upbringing we have received,” the pope said.

Once the faithful are able to detach from what is familiar and comfortable, Pope Leo said they must then “encounter” the other through selfless service and the sharing of life. This detachment, he said, creates the conditions for authentic encounter rather than control.

He emphasized that it is a priority that “neither in the pastoral sphere nor in the social and political spheres can good come from abuse of power.”

He pointed to the example of missionaries, a role he held as an Augustinian in Peru, whose work must be rooted in service, dialogue and respect.

“The great missionaries bear witnesses to quiet, unobtrusive approaches, whose method is the sharing of life, selfless service, the renunciation of any calculated strategy, dialogue and respect,” Pope Leo said.

Rather than seeking to “reconquer” increasingly secular societies, the pope said Catholics must approach as guests, not to impose, but to listen and accompany.

The Church’s mission, the pope said, is guided by the Holy Spirit, and the faithful must not try to control it but instead follow its lead, entering each culture with humility and “respecting the mystery that every person and every community carries within them.”

In his third point, the pope explained that this mission is not a “heroic adventure” reserved only for a few, but rather the “living witness of a Body with many members,” and every mission includes rejection and suffering.

He recalled that the people of Nazareth were filled with rage when they heard Jesus’ words and drove him out of the town. Every Christian must “pass through” a trial just as Jesus did, the pope said.

“The cross is part of the mission: the sending becomes more bitter and frightening, but also more freeing and transformative,” he said.

Throughout life, Pope Leo said the faithful may be called to experience many “resurrections,” as they immerse themselves in service.

Throughout life, Pope Leo said the faithful may be called to experience many “resurrections,” as they immerse themselves in service. He pointed to the hope of many witnesses, one of whom “is particularly dear to me.”

That witness is St. Óscar Romero of San Salvador, El Salvador, who wrote a month before his assassination that Jesus helped martyrs and if the need arose, “I entrust my last breath to him.”

“But, more than the final moment of life, what matters is to give him one’s whole life and to live for him,” he wrote.

He continued, saying that “despite my sins, I have placed my trust in him and I shall not be disheartened.” St. Romero, remembered as a martyr for defending the poor and speaking out against injustice, was canonized by Pope Francis in 2018.

A successful mission is not about the results, but rather about the disciple’s faithfulness and hope in God. Jesus embarked on a journey “in a world torn apart by the powers that ravage it,” Pope Leo said.

“Within it arises a new people, not of victims, but of witnesses,” he said.

Pope Leo is expected to wash the feet of 12 priests and celebrate Mass Thursday evening, commemorating Jesus’ institution of the Eucharist and the priesthood.

(OSV News) – Catholics during Holy Week should continue to “pray ardently” for a de-escalation of violence in the Middle East, Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in a statement April 1.

“During this holiest of weeks, let us continue to pray ardently for mutually respectful and effective dialogue that leads to a ceasefire and a negotiated end to the conflict with Iran,” he said.

Archbishop Coakley underscored Pope Leo’s call for peace made on Palm Sunday, when the pope said: “Just as the Church contemplates the mystery of the Lord’s Passion, we cannot forget those who today are truly sharing in his suffering.”

“The longer the conflict with Iran continues, including the risk of deploying ground troops to the region, the greater the risk of a dramatic escalation risking an ever-greater regional conflict,” Archbishop Coakley said. “I welcome the Administration’s indications that the war with Iran may soon be coming to an end. And I join our Holy Father’s urgent calls for the Administration and all parties involved to take decisive action toward an immediate ceasefire, and for effective dialogue to resolve this dangerous impasse.”

In his first Palm Sunday homily March 29, Pope Leo XIV proclaimed that Jesus, the King of Peace, embraces all suffering in human history and cries out from the cross against war. Pope Leo repeated the phrase “King of Peace” seven times throughout his homily, weaving it through different moments of the Passion of Christ, pointing to Jesus as a victim of unjust violence who never took up arms in his own defense.

“Christ, King of Peace, cries out again from his cross: God is love! Have mercy! Lay down your weapons! Remember that you are brothers and sisters,” the pope said.

Two days later, in comments outside Castel Gandolfo, Pope Leo told reporters: “I was told that President Trump had recently stated that he would like to end the war. Hopefully he’s looking for an off-ramp. Hopefully he’s looking for a way to decrease the amount of violence, of bombing, which would be a significant contribution to removing the hatred that’s being created and is increasing constantly in the Middle East and elsewhere.”

Pope Leo continued: “So I would certainly continue to give this call to all leaders of the world: to say, come back to the table to dialogue, let’s look for solutions to problems, let’s look for ways to reduce the amount of violence that we’re promoting, and that peace, especially at Easter, might reign in our hearts.”

Archbishop Coakley concluded his statement by calling on Christians to be “peacemakers.”

“Emboldened by Easter’s powerful, transformative grace, I urge the faithful to continue praying ardently for mutual respectful and effective dialogue, and that we Christians be true to our vocation as peacemakers, the ‘light of the world’ and the ‘salt of the earth’ (Matthew 5:13-14),” he said.

(OSV News) – Pope Leo XIV will wash the feet of 12 priests on Holy Thursday during the “In Coena Domini” – the Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper – on April 2 at the Basilica of St. John Lateran.

“Eleven of them are priests who were ordained last year by Pope Leo XIV,” the Vicariate of Rome said in an April 1 announcement. Father Renzo Chiesa, the 12th priest, “is the spiritual director of the Pontifical Roman Major Seminary,” the announcement said.

The decision restores the traditional practice of popes where the Holy Father, in his role as Bishop of Rome, marks the start of the Sacred Triduum at his diocesan cathedral.

Rome-based Dominican Father Patrick Briscoe, general promoter of social communication for the Dominican Order, said that for him as a priest, “it’s something very encouraging because Holy Thursday is the night of institution of the priesthood. And the washing of the feet by the pope conveys his love for priestly service.”

In the case of men whose feet Pope Leo will wash, Father Briscoe said, “these are men that (the pope) himself ordained, which is a beautiful sign of (the priests’) closeness with the bishop, which matters for every priest who’s serving.”

Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, longtime personal secretary for St. John Paul II, told OSV News April 1 that John Paul would occasionally have priests among those whose feet he washed, but that the people chosen for the occasion were mostly “elderly people from nursing homes … especially poor people.” Among them, a priest would be present, he said.

“This is absolutely a personal initiative of the current pope — the (washing of feet of) priests,” Cardinal Dziwisz told OSV News.

In 1992, among the priests whose feet were washed by the Polish pontiff was then-Father Slawomir Oder, the future postulator of the sainthood cause of Karol Wojtyla (St. John Paul II).

“It was a gesture that to this day deeply moves me,” now-Bishop Oder of Gliwice, Poland, told Polish Catholic magazine Gosc Niedzielny in 2019.

“It was authentic, it engaged him completely, and I truly felt like Peter, who told Jesus, ‘You will never wash my feet.'” Washing the young priest’s feet was a gesture of love for the priesthood and respect for every priest, Bishop Oder recalled.

During his 13-year pontificate, Pope Francis made the Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper and the washing of feet into one of its distinct hallmarks. Instead of celebrating Mass at the Basilica of St. John Lateran, he often visited prisons, where he washed the feet of the underprivileged and celebrated Mass for them.

In 2013, for Pope Francis’s first papal celebration of Holy Thursday, he went to Rome’s Casal del Marmo juvenile detention center, where he washed the feet of young male and female offenders. In 2024, the last time Pope Francis washed feet on Holy Thursday, he washed the feet of 12 women at a prison in Rome during a ceremony — the first time the pope only has washed the feet of women. In 2025, Pope Francis was too ill to participate in Holy Week liturgies, and he died Easter Monday.

With Pope Leo’s decision to celebrate Mass at the Basilica St. John Lateran, Father Briscoe said, “Pope Leo is communicating his understanding of his role as the Bishop of Rome.”

But the Dominican priest cautioned viewing Pope Leo’s decision as a critique of Pope Francis.

“The rite itself, the foot washing, communicates humble service, which was the hallmark that was so touching from Pope Francis’ famous gesture,” Father Briscoe said. “Pope Leo’s decision to wash the feet of priests not only puts him in continuity with the tradition, but complements his decision to denote in the month of April his prayer intention for priests in crisis.”

In his April prayer intention, Pope Leo prayed for “those going through moments of crisis, when loneliness weighs heavily, when doubt clouds their hearts, and when exhaustion seems stronger than hope.”

“I think there’s a grave concern about the state of the priesthood today,” Father Briscoe told OSV News. “And the priesthood is threatened by rapid secularization and by misunderstandings. And so Pope Leo’s gesture of support is one to strengthen priestly identity throughout the world.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Laypeople are not passive members but active participants in the Church’s mission, called to live and spread the Gospel in everyday life, Pope Leo XIV said.

Continuing his series on the documents of the Second Vatican Council during his weekly general audience, the pope emphasized that all the baptized, not just the clergy, are missionary disciples of Christ.

“For this reason, lay men and women are particularly called to carry Christ’s presence to all spheres of life and so transform them from within by bearing witness to the beauty of a life in Christ and the elevating power of his grace,” he said April 1 in his address to English-speakers.

Pope Leo delved into the Dogmatic Constitution “Lumen Gentium,” saying that Vatican II shed light on the dignity of laypeople, after centuries of being defined as “simply as those who are not part of the clergy or the consecrated life.”

“Before any distinction of ministry or state of life, the council affirms the equality of all the baptized,” the pope said.

He said the People of God is not a “formless mass,” but the body of Christ, uniting clergy and laity. By being baptized, the laypeople “participate in the very priesthood of Christ,” he said.

The pope also referenced St. John Paul II and Pope Francis, highlighting their emphasis on the active role of laypeople in the Church’s mission.

He went on to say that the responsibility of laypeople is not confined to the Church, but rather includes the whole world. He said the world must be permeated by the spirit of Christ — something made possible through the “contribution, service and witness” of laypeople.

“Indeed, the Church is present wherever her children profess and bear witness to the Gospel: in the workplace, in civil society and in all human relationships, wherever they, through their choices, show the beauty of Christian life, which foretells here and now the justice and peace that will be accomplished in the Kingdom of God,” he said.

In his address to Arabic-speakers, the pope continued his calls for prayers for innocent victims of war, following weeks of condemning the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East.

(OSV News) – Pope Leo XIV will carry the cross himself through all 14 stations of the Way of the Cross at Rome’s Colosseum on the first Good Friday of his pontificate.

It will be the first time that a pope has carried the cross for every station in the Via Crucis since the tradition was revived at the site more than six decades ago.

The 70-year-old pope’s predecessors Pope Benedict XVI and St. John Paul II carried the cross only at the opening and closing of the Way of the Cross at the Colosseum. Pope Francis presided over the Via Crucis from the nearby Palatine Hill and in his final years did not attend at all due to declining health.

In 1756, Pope Benedict XIV dedicated the Colosseum to the memory of the passion of Christ and the early Christian martyrs, and the Stations of the Cross were regularly prayed in the Colosseum for about 100 years in the 18th and 19th centuries. St. John XXIII restored the Via Crucis tradition to the Colosseum with St. Paul VI making it a regular tradition in Rome.

The meditations for this year’s papal Stations of the Cross were written by Franciscan Father Francesco Patton, who served as custos of the Holy Land from 2016 to 2025. Often writing from Mount Nebo in Jordan, Father Patton has been a consistent voice on behalf of those suffering amid conflict and instability across the Middle East. The Holy See Press Office has said the texts will be published on the morning of Good Friday, April 3.

Last year’s Via Crucis meditations were written by the late Pope Francis following a prolonged hospitalization at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, though he was ultimately unable to attend the Colosseum ceremony due to his health.

Pope Leo is also reviving another papal tradition for Holy Week on Holy Thursday, celebrating a public Mass of the Lord’s Supper at the Basilica of St. John Lateran, including the traditional washing of feet.

Pope Francis had broken with the practice of a public Holy Thursday papal Mass, choosing instead to celebrate the liturgy at prisons and wash the feet of inmates. Pope Leo’s return to St. John Lateran restores the public Easter Triduum liturgies to their traditional setting for the first time in years.

(OSV News) – Pope Leo XIV named Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, the substitute secretary for general affairs at the Vatican Secretariat of State, as the apostolic nuncio to Italy and the Republic of San Marino, the Vatican said.

Archbishop Peña Parra’s new assignment was among several papal appointments the Vatican announced March 30. The pope named Italian Archbishop Paolo Rudelli, who served as apostolic nuncio to Colombia since 2023, as the new substitute secretary, a role equivalent to a papal chief of staff.

In a statement published March 30 by SIR, the news agency of the Italian bishops’ conference, Archbishop Rudelli called his appointment “a gesture of undeserved trust, which deeply honors me.”

Entrusting his new role to the intercession of St. John XXIII, the Italian prelate said he was ready to take on “this service in the spirit indicated by the Apostolic Constitution Praedicate Evangelium.”

The pope also named Archbishop Petar Rajic, who served as apostolic nuncio to Italy and San Marino as prefect of the Papal Household, a role that has been left vacant for several years.

The last to hold the title was Archbishop Georg Gänswein, the longtime personal secretary of the late Pope Benedict XVI who now serves as apostolic nuncio to the Baltic states. In 2020, the German prelate, although allowed to retain his title as “prefect,” was assigned by Pope Francis to assist Pope Benedict XVI. His term officially ended in 2023 and no one was assigned as his successor until now.

–‘A renewed call to service’–

In a letter addressed to Vatican secretary of state Cardinal Pietro Parolin and staff members at the Secretariat of State, Archbishop Peña Parra reflected on his time at the dicastery as well as his years of service, comparing his life to that of “a train that sets off toward a final destination.”

“It has been intense and interesting, full of lessons and challenges; a remarkably beautiful and enriching adventure, especially because of the people whom Divine Providence has allowed me to meet,” he wrote.

He also noted both difficult moments during his tenure, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the death of Pope Benedict XVI as well as the illness and subsequent death of Pope Francis. The Venezuelan archbishop also highlighted the “delicate phases leading up to the conclave, which culminated in the joyful election of Pope Leo XIV, who was welcomed as a gift of the Spirit to the Church.”

Most notably, Archbishop Peña Parra also highlighted “moments of institutional suffering,” including the trial related to the London property scandal.

The Vatican’s controversial investment in a property in London led to huge financial losses was a problem inherited by the archbishop from his predecessor, Cardinal Angelo Becciu.

Cardinal Becciu, along with several defendants, was found guilty and sentenced to five and half years in prison. However, the Vatican’s appeals court declared a partial mistrial March 17, citing procedural errors by Vatican prosecutors.

Archbishop Peña Parra, who testified at the trial in 2023, said the legal proceedings “exposed the Holy See — and in particular our Secretariat of State — to unprecedented media and judicial scrutiny, requiring rigor, transparency, and a sense of responsibility on our part.”

“In each of these circumstances, the Section for General Affairs was called upon to safeguard, coordinate and sustain a service that is quiet, often invisible, yet essential to the life of the universal Church,” he wrote.

Nevertheless, the Venezuelan prelate likened his time at the Secretariat of State to a high-speed train “since the life of the Church moves quickly.”

“At a certain point, the Lord has us board a train car, entrusts us with a stage of the journey, and asks us to care for the passengers we encounter,” he said. “Later on, we arrive at a station, which is not the end of the journey, but a transition. We get off, hand the next stage over to others, and we change direction. The train continues its journey.”

“The train of life continues its journey; what matters is remaining faithful to the Master who calls us to board, to disembark and to set out again, always for the love of his Church,” the archbishop said.

–Other appointments as Holy Week starts–

On March 30, the pope also named two new members to the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, including Susan Lynn Bissell, a Canadian academic and visiting scholar at the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University; and French lawyer Laurent Delvolvé, a member of the Paris Bar Association.

Pope Leo also named several new members to the Dicastery for Integral Human Development, including Father Daniel Groody, vice president and associate provost for undergraduate education at the University of Notre Dame; Meghan J. Clark, professor of moral theology and assistant chair of the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at St. John’s University in New York; and Léocadie Lushombo, assistant professor of theological ethics at Santa Clara University in Berkley, California.

(OSV News) – The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said an agreement has been reached with Israeli authorities to allow Holy Week and Easter celebrations to take place at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher after they were initially barred from celebrating Palm Sunday.

In a statement published March 30, the Latin patriarchate said that “access for representatives of the Churches has been secured in order to conduct the liturgies and ceremonies and to preserve the ancient Easter traditions at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.”

“Naturally, and in light of the current state of war, the existing restrictions on public gatherings remain in force for the time being. Accordingly, the Churches will ensure that the liturgies and prayers are broadcast live to the faithful in the Holy Land and throughout the world,” the statement read.

The agreement was reached a day after Israeli police barred Cardinal Pizzaballa and Father Francesco Ielpo, the custos of the Holy Land, from entering the church March 29, drawing global condemnation.

In a statement published shortly after the incident, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said barring Catholic leaders from celebrating the start of Holy Week set “a grave precedent, and disregards the sensibilities of billions of people around the world who, during this week, look to Jerusalem.”

Following the backlash, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said he called Cardinal Pizzaballa to “express my great sorrow over this morning’s unfortunate incident in the Old City of Jerusalem.”

“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,” he explained.

Herzog also reaffirmed Israel’s “unwavering commitment to freedom of religion for all faiths and to upholding the status quo at the holy sites of Jerusalem.”

In its March 30 statement, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem expressed its gratitude to Herzog “for his prompt attention and valued intervention.”

“We also extend our appreciation to the Heads of State and officials who acted swiftly to convey their firm positions, many of whom personally reached out to express their closeness and support,” it said.

–Swift reactions–

Religious and political leaders worldwide swiftly denounced Israeli authorities after the news quickly spread March 29 that entrance to the church had been barred for the two Catholic leaders.

The X account of Palestine’s mission to the United Nations said the Israeli authorities’ actions against religious leaders were not without precedent, as “for decades, Israel has always denied Palestinian Christians access to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher with full impunity.”

In a subsequent post, Palestinian government authorities said the barring of church leaders from 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.”

The Israeli police’s actions, it added, show 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.”

Prominent Western leaders also took to social media to denounce the incident.

Among the immediate reactions were from Italy, where the country’s foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, called the incident “unacceptable” and announced that he had summoned Israel’s ambassador to Italy “to receive clarifications on the decision to prevent Cardinal Pizzaballa from celebrating Palm Sunday.”

Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, issued a rare condemnation, acknowledging that while holy sites in the Old City of Jerusalem were closed due to safety concerns, preventing Catholic leaders from entering the church was “an unfortunate overreach (that is) 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,” he wrote. “For the Patriarch to be barred from entry to the Church on Palm Sunday for a private ceremony is difficult to understand or justify.”

In posts in French, Hebrew and Arabic, French President Emmanuel Macron expressed his support for Cardinal Pizzaballa and Christians in the Holy Land, saying that the “free exercise of worship in Jerusalem must be guaranteed for all religions.

“I condemn this decision by the Israeli police, which adds to the alarming proliferation of violations of the status quo of Jerusalem’s Holy Sites,” he wrote.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who has criticized the U.S. and Israel-led war against Iran, directly blamed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the incident, saying he “prevented Catholics from celebrating Palm Sunday in Jerusalem’s Holy Places. Without any explanation. Without reasons or motives.”

“The government of Spain condemns this unjustified attack on religious freedom and demands that Israel respect the diversity of beliefs and international law. Because without tolerance, coexistence is impossible,” he wrote.

Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, said barring Cardinal Pizzaballa and Father Ielpo from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulcher constituted “a violation of religious freedom and long-standing protections governing holy sites.

“Freedom of worship in Jerusalem must be fully guaranteed, without exception, for all faiths,” she wrote on X. “Jerusalem’s multi-religious character must be protected.”

Polish President Karol Nawrocki also took to X to say that he strongly objects “the refusal to allow the celebration of Holy Mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

“Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week, and Christians are preparing for the resurrection of Jesus Christ,” the Polish president, who is Catholic, wrote.

“The actions of the Israeli police, which I condemn, are an expression of disrespect for Christian tradition and culture.”

Traditional allies of Netanyahu also offered rare criticisms, including Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who called the situation “painful.”

“This is unacceptable for us as Christians, even taking into account the wartime situation and general security measures,” he wrote. “We must not allow war to exclude followers of any religion from our shared holy city, Jerusalem.”

–Easing tensions–

Responding to the incident in a series of tweets, Israel’s prime minister’s office noted that Iran “has repeatedly targeted the holy sites of all three monotheistic religions in Jerusalem with ballistic missiles” and that missile fragments from one strike crashed near the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

The police, he said, prevented Cardinal Pizzaballa and Father Ielpo from entering the church “out of special concern for his safety” and that “there was no malicious intent.”

“However, given the holiness of the week leading up to Easter for the world’s Christians, Israel’s security arms are putting together a plan to enable church leaders to worship at the holy site in the coming days.”

Several hours later, in a post on his personal X account, Netanyahu said he instructed authorities that Cardinal Pizzaballa “be granted full and immediate access to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.”

“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,” he wrote.

Responding to Netanyahu’s post, Huckabee said he was glad Netanyahu “personally and promptly intervened to allow Cardinal Pizzaballa access to Church of Holy Sepulcher.”

“ALL holy sites have restrictions due to Iranian missiles and safety issues, but private access on Palm Sunday was reasonable and the issue now resolved,” the U.S. ambassador tweeted.

Cardinal Pizzaballa also sought to ease tensions in the aftermath of the incident. In an interview with TV2000, the television network owned by the Italian bishops’ conference, the Latin patriarch said the incident was the result of a “misunderstanding.”

“There were no clashes; everything was done very politely. I don’t want to force things; we want to use this situation to better clarify in the coming days what to do, respecting everyone’s safety but also respecting the right to prayer,” he said.

He also noted that while the Palm Sunday incident was important, it must also be considered within “the broader context.”

“There are people who are much worse off than we are and cannot celebrate for very different reasons,” he said. “Once again, we are celebrating a subdued Easter.”