Latin Patriarch marks Good Friday at Holy Sepulcher church in Jerusalem

Cardinal Pizzaballa led Good Friday prayers at Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre, following a reversal of Israel’s earlier restrictions on Palm Sunday worship.

Reuters

3 April 2026 at 08:37:58

Latin Patriarch marks Good Friday at Holy Sepulcher church in Jerusalem

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, holds a press conference to address the issue of the impact of Israeli security restrictions for large gatherings on Easter celebrations, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Jerusalem, March 31, 2026.

Ammar Awad/Reuters

The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, held a ceremony on Friday (March 3) marking Good Friday at Calvary in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

The liturgy commemorating the Passion of Christ took place inside the basilica in Jerusalem’s Old City, traditionally believed to be the site of Jesus’ crucifixion and burial and is one of the central Good Friday observances in the Holy Land.

Israel had earlier blocked Jerusalem's Catholic cardinal from marking Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week, at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, sparking an international outcry that led Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reverse the ban for the remainder of the most important period in the Christian calendar.

Residents of the Old City and religious officials said police restrictions on worship had not been implemented consistently.

Production: Mark Ho/Reuters