The Israeli police, alongside a representative from the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, have reached an agreement by which limited groups of Christians will be allowed to pray at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the police announced on Monday.

According to the new agreement, church representatives will be allowed to hold ceremonies, with services to be broadcast, as wartime restrictions on public gatherings remain.

 In a joint statement issued by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Custody of the Holy Land, the churches thanked President Isaac Herzog for his intervention and stressed the need to safeguard freedom of worship during the war.

The Israel Police had prevented Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Sunday, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said.

Pizzaballa, accompanied by the official guardian of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Father Francesco Ielpo, was going to the church to celebrate Palm Sunday Mass when police stopped them and forced them to turn back, it said

Traditional Palm Sunday celebrations and the annual procession into Jerusalem had been canceled due to ongoing security concerns and restrictions imposed by the Home Front Command.

Pizzaballa and Ielpo had been making their way “privately and without any characteristics of a procession or ceremonial act” when the police stopped them, the Patriarchate said.

It was the first time in centuries that the heads of the church were prevented from celebrating Palm Sunday Mass in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, it said.

“This incident is a grave precedent and disregards the sensibilities of billions of people around the world who, during this week, look to Jerusalem,” the Patriarchate said.

“The heads of the churches have acted with full responsibility and, since the outset of the war, have complied with all imposed restrictions: Public gatherings were canceled, attendance was prohibited, and arrangements were made to broadcast the celebrations to hundreds of millions of faithful worldwide, who, during these days of Easter, turn their eyes to Jerusalem and to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,” it said.

The prevention of Pizzaballa’s entry into the church was a “manifestly unreasonable and grossly disproportionate measure,” the Patriarchate said.

“This hasty and fundamentally flawed decision, tainted by improper considerations, represents an extreme departure from basic principles of reasonableness, freedom of worship, and respect for the status quo,” it said.

The Patriarchate said it was expressing its sorrow to Christians across the world who were expecting the patriarch’s prayer within the church.

In response, the Israel Police said the patriarch’s request to pray at the church had been previously reviewed and denied due to the security situation.

“The Old City and the holy sites constitute a complex area that does not allow access for large emergency and rescue vehicles, which significantly challenges response capabilities and poses a real risk to human life in the event of a mass-casualty incident,” it said.

Israeli Ambassador to Italy Jonathan Peled was summoned to the Italian Foreign Ministry to explain the incident.

Various foreign embassies also requested explanations from the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

In response, the Foreign Ministry said there was a substantial risk to life in the Old City due to the ongoing war with Iran.

The police would be meeting with Pizzaballa following the event “to explore solutions that allow for as normal a routine as possible while ensuring public safety,” it said.

The Prime Minister’s Office said there had been “no malicious intent whatsoever” by the police.

“Out of special concern for his safety, Jerusalem police prevented the Latin Patriarch Cardinal Pizzaballa from holding mass this morning at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,” it said, adding that Israeli security officials were devising a plan to enable church leaders to worship at the site.

The Democrats MK Gilad Kariv, chairman of the Knesset Immigration, Absorption, and Diaspora Affairs Committee, said the committee had last year cited the “unprofessional conduct of the police” regarding churches in Jerusalem.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir (Otzma Yehudit) and right-wing activist Bentzi Gopstein shared responsibility for the incident, he said.

“When someone who has called to burn churches in the State of Israel [Gopstein] regularly sits in the office of the minister responsible for the police, is it any surprise that the police are failing to manage the sensitive and important relationship with the churches in Jerusalem – thereby failing the entire State of Israel in yet another unnecessary and serious diplomatic and public diplomacy incident?” Kariv wrote on X/Twitter.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) said: “There is no destruction of value like what this government is doing to our international standing.”

“No one [is] stepping up to say: ‘This is not a Jewish declaration of war on the Christian world,’” he said, adding that the government had not responded to what he called a disgrace in a timely manner.

French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on X: “I condemn the decision of the Israeli police, which joins a disturbing sequence of violations of the status quo of the holy places in Jerusalem.” He called for freedom of worship to be ensured in Jerusalem.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he had ordered Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa to be granted full and immediate access to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre later Sunday night, Walla reported.

Netanyahu emphasized that the restrictions were intended to protect worshippers but that Pizzaballa would be able to hold prayers as he wished.

Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week for Christians and commemorates Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem the week before his death, when crowds laid palm branches along his path. Each year, thousands of Christian Israelis and pilgrims traditionally gather in the city to reenact the route described in the New Testament.

The procession begins at Bethphage on the Mount of Olives and descends into the Old City via Lions’ Gate.

Following Palm Sunday, Holy Week continues with a series of religious ceremonies that culminate in Easter Sunday, which commemorates Jesus’ resurrection as described in the Gospels. The week is the holiest period in the Christian calendar, and the traditional observances in Jerusalem are among the most anticipated religious events of the year.

The current restrictions are “a wound that adds to many others inflicted by the conflict,” Pizzaballa said.

Tobias Siegal contributed to this report.