Limited Good Friday ceremony held at Holy Sepulchre as Israel bans worshippers

The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem led a scaled-down Good Friday ceremony at Calvary in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, amid Israeli restrictions on attendance.

Only around 15 clergy members took part in the Liturgy of the Passion of Christ inside the basilica, traditionally believed to be the site of Jesus’s crucifixion and burial.

The public were barred from attending this year’s Good Friday observances due to sweeping Israeli restrictions across occupied East Jerusalem’s Old City, affecting both churches and Al-Aqsa Mosque.

A day earlier, Pierbattista Pizzaballa led Holy Thursday prayers at the same church with similarly limited attendance.

Speaking during the service, Pizzaballa highlighted rising tensions linked to the US-Israeli war on Iran and restrictions on freedom of worship.

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