Cardinal Pizzaballa prays for peace at Gethsemane on Palm Sunday

Vatican News

Unable to celebrate Palm Sunday Mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem after being prevented by Israeli police from entering the Church, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem led the solemn celebration of Palm Sunday live from the Basilica of All Nations in Gethsemane.

He noted that at the foot of the Mount of Olives, where Jesus prayed in the garden, we begin Holy Week with a special plea for reconciliation and hope. 

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa presided over the Liturgy of the Word and imparted a solemn Blessing with the Relic of the Holy Cross directed toward the city of Jerusalem.

Due to the ongoing war, this year’s celebrations in the Holy Land are being held without pilgrims, but with the global community united in prayers for peace.

In his meditation, the Patriarch recalled the image of Jesus weeping over Jerusalem to interpret the present moment.

"Today Jesus weeps once more over Jerusalem," he said. "He weeps over this city, which remains a sign of both hope and sorrow, of grace and suffering. He weeps over this Holy Land, still unable to recognize the gift of peace. He weeps for all the victims of a war that seems without end: for divided families, for shattered hopes. But the tears of Jesus are never fruitless. They open our eyes, challenge us, and reveal the truth."

Noting the absence of traditional Palm Sunday celebrations with processions and palms, he said while war disrupts normal expressions of faith, true faith does not depend on external rituals and can remain alive even in silence and hardship.

"We are certain that the Crucified and Risen One does not cease to walk among us: even when the road is blocked, He dwells in the heart of those who have not stopped following Him," he said. "Yet precisely in this imposed silence, the liturgy becomes more authentic. The cry of “Hosanna” does not need branches to rise to heaven, and faith does not falter when outward rites are stripped away."

Recalling the Passion Gospel, which shows human failure through betrayal, denial, and violence, he said it also reveals Jesus’ unwavering faithfulness and self-giving love.

"At the very moment when death appears to triumph, truth is revealed, love is manifested, and salvation is accomplished," he said.

Jesus leads us "toward a peace that is not an illusion, but the fruit of the cross," Cardinal Pizzaballa recalled, as the peace Jesus offers is "a peace that comes from a God who gives himself completely and has no need of force or weapons."

But to live faith here, he said, "means to accept the contradiction it embodies: the place of resurrection is also the place of Calvary; the place of God’s embrace is still scarred by too much hatred."

In conclusion, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem encouraged everyone to respond to the call to be witnesses to God's love.

"Brothers and sisters, in this land that continues to wait for peace, we are called to be witnesses to a love that never gives up," he said. "May our journey of faith, even today, be a journey of hope. And may our lives, even amid the harshness of the present moment, bring the love of Christ and his light wherever darkness seems to prevail."