On Palm Sunday — the day Christians worldwide commemorate Jesus’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem before his crucifixion — Israeli police prevented Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to celebrate Mass.
The two were stopped en route while “proceeding privately and without any characteristics of a procession or ceremonial act” and were forced to turn back.
It marked “the first time in centuries” that Palm Sunday Mass could not be celebrated at the church — built where many believe Jesus was crucified and buried.
Let that sink in: centuries.
Not since the Crusades. Not during the Ottoman Empire. Not during two World Wars. Not during the 1948 or 1967 wars. Not even during COVID lockdowns.
This time is different.
The Status Quo — A 270-Year-Old Agreement Nobody Can Touch
To understand why this matters, you need to understand the Status Quo — one of the most unusual legal arrangements in world history.
The Status Quo stemmed from a decree of Ottoman Sultan Osman III in 1757 that preserved the division of ownership and responsibilities at various Christian holy places. Further decrees in 1852 and 1853 affirmed that no changes could be made without consensus from all six Christian communities. These arrangements received international recognition in the Treaty of Paris (1856) and the Treaty of Berlin (1878).
Control of the church is shared among several Christian denominations in complicated arrangements essentially unchanged for over 160 years. The main denominations sharing property are the Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic, Coptic, Syriac, and Ethiopian Orthodox churches.
How serious is this arrangement?
A wooden ladder under a window of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre has been in place since at least 1728 and has remained there since the 1757 status quo was established. It’s called the “immovable ladder” because no cleric of the six churches may move, rearrange, or alter any property without consent of the other five orders.
In 1902, 18 friars were hospitalized and some monks jailed after Franciscans and Greeks disagreed over who could clean the lowest step of the Chapel of the Franks.
A ladder hasn’t moved in 270 years. Monks went to jail over sweeping rights. And now Israeli police just stopped the highest Catholic official in the Holy Land from walking into the building.
This Isn’t Just About Christians
Here’s the bigger picture most coverage misses: Muslims have been completely barred from accessing Al-Aqsa Mosque since the war started in late February.
Authorities prevented Eid al-Fitr prayers at Al-Aqsa this year for the first time since Israel occupied East Jerusalem in 1967.
This has been the first Ramadan since Israel seized East Jerusalem in 1967 that Palestinians have been unable to perform Friday prayers at the mosque.
The number of Jews allowed to pray at the Western Wall has been limited to 50 a day.
Israel says all of this is about security. Netanyahu’s office stated that “Iran has repeatedly targeted the holy sites of all three monotheistic religions in Jerusalem with ballistic missiles” and that one strike crashed “meters from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.”
The threat is real — Iranian missiles have hit the Old City.
But here’s what critics point out: The four representatives of the Catholic Church were well below the 50-person restriction. US Ambassador Mike Huckabee called it “an unfortunate overreach,” noting that “churches, synagogues, and mosques throughout Jerusalem have met with the restrictions of 50 or less.”
The Latin Patriarchate said the Church of the Holy Sepulchre has been hosting private Masses since the Iran war began on February 28, making it unclear why Sunday’s Mass was any different.
The Reversal — But What’s Really Changed?
After global condemnation from France, Italy, Spain, the EU, and even the US Ambassador, Netanyahu said he asked “relevant authorities” early Monday to allow Cardinal Pizzaballa to enter the church and “hold services as he wishes.”
But the fundamental question remains: Who gets to decide when these sites open or close?
When Saladin retook Jerusalem in 1187, he entrusted the keys of the church to two Muslim families of Jerusalem — the Joudeh and Nusseibeh families — as neutral custodians. This arrangement has endured for eight centuries.
The Ottoman Empire codified this in 1852 with the Status Quo decree, incorporated into the 1856 Treaty of Paris and the 1878 Treaty of Berlin, giving it the force of international law.
For centuries, empires rose and fell. Crusaders came and went. The Ottomans ruled for 400 years. The British mandated. Jordan controlled. Israel captured.
Through all of it, worship continued.
Even during past wars and periods of tension, worship at the site continued in some form. While the church closed briefly for protests in 2018 or during the pandemic in 2020, an indefinite closure due to regional warfare is a profound disruption.
What This Means for What Comes Next
Extremist settler groups are now calling for access to the shuttered Al-Aqsa Mosque during Passover, asking for “sacrificial rituals” to be held inside from April 2 to 9.
The fear is that this shutdown is the prelude to a takeover and a complete change in the status-quo arrangements. Israel is unilaterally imposing a new reality, which threatens to transform the site primarily into a Jewish place of worship.
The upcoming Holy Fire ceremony for Orthodox Easter on April 12 is now in question, along with its subsequent transport to Greece.
Palm Sunday is over. But Holy Week continues. Good Friday. Easter. Passover. The eyes of billions remain fixed on Jerusalem.
The war with Iran may have provided the rationale.
But what’s being established — or dismantled — in these weeks could reshape who controls the holiest ground on Earth for generations to come.
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