Israeli police prevent Catholic leaders from celebrating Palm Sunday Mass at Jerusalem church

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The Israeli police prevented Catholic leaders from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to celebrate Mass on the Christian holiday of Palm Sunday for the first time in centuries, the Latin Patriarchate said Sunday. Jerusalem’s major holy sites are closed because of the ongoing Iran war, including the church, as the city has come under frequent fire from Iranian missiles. The Catholic Church called the police decision “a manifestly unreasonable and grossly disproporti