As Catholics worldwide prepare to enter Holy Week, our prayers turn to the holy city of Jerusalem.
It was there that Jesus entered in triumph, acclaimed as king, only to walk the Via Dolorosa, embrace the cross, and rise miraculously from the tomb.
This year, however, Jerusalem finds itself in turmoil.
In the last month, Iranian ballistic missiles have rained down on Israel in retaliation for earlier strikes, with fragments exploding in Jerusalem’s Old City.
Debris has landed near the Western Wall, the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, and, most painfully for Catholics, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the very site of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection.
Sirens wailed; smoke rose. Israeli authorities, citing grave security threats amid the ongoing regional war, have closed all holy sites in the Old City since late February, including Christianity’s holiest shrine.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, custodian of the tomb where death was conquered, stands sealed. Latin Patriarchate leaders report that Holy Week and Easter liturgies may be restricted to clergy and religious only. The Via Dolorosa — the path our savior walked — lies quiet not from reverence alone, but from the shadow of missiles and fear.
In this hour of suffering, the voice of the Church rings clear and prophetic. Pope Leo XIV has implored the warring parties to halt “the spiral of violence before it becomes an irreparable abyss,” insisting that “stability and peace are not built with mutual threats nor with weapons … but only through a dialogue that is reasonable, authentic and responsible.”
Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Catholic leaders across the Holy Land echo this urgent call. Msgr. Peter Vaccari of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association prays for “a return to dialogue, diplomacy, justice, and peace.”
The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, has warned against the abuse of God’s name to justify any war: “The gravest sin we can commit at this time.”
As we Catholics trace the steps of Christ’s Passion this week, you are invited to unite your prayer with the real-time suffering of Jerusalem’s people: Jews, Christians, and Muslims alike.
Holy Week does not end in death. It ends in Resurrection. The Church in the Holy Land, though small and tested, continues to proclaim that violence never has the last word.
The patriarchs and heads of the Churches have long called the faithful to conduct pilgrimages of the heart when physical pilgrimage is impossible.
This year, that call is especially urgent. Let every Catholic household and parish make Jerusalem the center of its Holy Week devotions.
Above all, heed Pope Leo’s appeal: Choose dialogue over destruction, mercy over vengeance, life over death. In the words of the ancient liturgy: “We adore Your Cross, O Lord, and we praise and glorify Your holy Resurrection.”
May the Lord who conquered death in Jerusalem more than 2,000 years ago conquer the hatred and fear that grips his city today.