Israeli authorities blocked Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for Palm Sunday services — a direct restriction on Christian worship at Christianity's holiest site amid an escalating Israel-Iran war.
Weekly Field Brief
A projectile fragment landed in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City near the Church of the Holy Sepulchre during Iranian missile strikes this week — the most direct physical threat to Christianity’s holiest ground in this conflict cycle.
Parishioners—including off-duty and retired law enforcement—intervened after reported threats inside the church. Police later reported finding a fully automatic AR-15 and ammunition in a vehicle in the church parking lot.
A small Catholic mission station chapel in Dengasorgi village, Rayagada district, Odisha, India, was vandalized on March 3, with sacred items burned and the church building damaged.
Flash Alert
Police in Penang confirmed the arrest of a man in his 20s allegedly linked to threats against independent preacher Zamri Vinoth.
Police in Kozhikode arrested an Odisha native in connection with a fire that was set at a religious study centre attached to St. Patrick’s Church near the railway station.
An Iredell County sheriff’s deputy detained a man after allegedly catching him dismantling air conditioning units during an early-morning security check at Holly Springs Baptist Church in Harmony.
A man threatened to kill another man inside St Mary’s Church in Hardwick after being asked to leave, following prior reports of aggressive behavior toward women in the area.
Lincoln police reported a burglary at a church in Lincoln, Nebraska, according to a local crime/courts report.
