Macron Backs Patriarch: “I Condemn the Decision”

French President Emmanuel Macron offered his full support to the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem and the Christians of the Holy Land, condemning the ban on entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to celebrate Palm Sunday mass. Macron described the Israeli police decision as a worrying increase in violations of the status quo for the Holy Sites of Jerusalem. He stressed that the free exercise of worship in Jerusalem must be guaranteed for all religions. This ban follows the Israeli police's decision to prevent the Patriarch and the head of the Franciscans from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.