MarioM

BREAKING: Italy denied the United States permission to land its military aircraft at an airbase in Sicily before flying to the Middle East, according to Reuters report.

“Judeo-Christian” literally wasn’t a thing 250 years ago, let alone a thing our country was founded on. We are a Christian nation, and I’m running for Governor to revive that.

I have instructed the relevant authorities that Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch, be granted full and immediate access to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Over the past several days, Iran has repeatedly targeted the holy sites of all three monotheistic religions in Jerusalem with ballistic missiles. In one strike, missile fragments crashed meters from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. To protect worshippers, Israel asked members of all faiths to temporarily abstain from worshipping at the Christian, Muslim and Jewish holy sites in Jerusalem’s Old City. Today, out of special concern for his safety, Cardinal Pizzaballa was asked to refrain from holding mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Even though I understand this concern, as soon as I learned about the incident with Cardinal Pizzaballa, I instructed the authorities to enable the Patriarch to hold services as he wishes.

My statement re Prohibiting the Latin Patriarch of entering Church of Holy Sepulcher on Palm Sunday: While all Holy sites in the Old City are closed due to safety concerns for mass gatherings including the Western Wall, Church of the Holy Sepulcher and Al Aqsa Mosque, the action today by the Israel Nat'l Police to deny Latin Patriarch Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa and 3 other priests from entering the Church to offer a blessing on Palm Sunday is an unfortunate overreach already having major repercussions around the world.  Home Front Command Guidelines restrict any gatherings to 50 people or less.  The 4 representatives of the Catholic Church were well below that restriction.  Statements from the Gov't of Israel indicate the action to prohibit Cardinal Pizzaballa entry to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher were for safety reasons, but churches, synagogues, and mosques throughout Jerusalem have met with the restrictions of 50 or less.  For the Patriarch to be barred from entry to the Church on Palm Sunday for a private ceremony is difficult to understand or justify. Israel has indicated it will work with the Patriarch to accommodate a safe means of carrying out Holy Week activities.

This is the correct decision and what should have been done in the first place. By all accounts, Cardinal Pizzaballa has cooperated with the safety concerns and cancelled the procession. It makes sense to ban large gatherings, for all religious groups, in those unprotected areas. But if he and other Catholic leaders are willing to take the risk for themselves due to the importance of the holiday, then Israel should do everything possible to accommodate it. Israel has enough problems without stepping on unnecessary and easily avoidable landmines. Whoever was foolish enough to not work with The Cardinal prior ti today to find a solution should be removed from the decision-making process.

🇮🇷 Iran is drafting a law to charge ships for passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Tolls. Fees. New rules. 20% of global oil moves through that strait. Tehran just found the meter.