Israel’s blocking Patriarch's Mass 'offends the faithful': Meloni

ROME, Mar 29: Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni condemned Israeli police actions preventing Jerusalem's Latin Patriarch from celebrating Palm Sunday mass.

The Latin Patriarchate earlier said Israeli police stopped Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa -- an archbishop with Catholic jurisdiction across Israel and the Palestinian territories -- from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem to conduct the mass.

Meloni said in a statement the incident was "an offence not only to the faithful but to any community that respects religious freedom".

Italy's foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, said on X he had summoned Israel's ambassador over the incident.    �"AFP