Before washing his feet, Francis celebrated a mass with the prisoners. The Italian Minister of Justice Marta Cartabia was also present, as the Vatican press office reported on Thursday evening.
The Vatican described the Pope’s meeting with the prisoners as a “private visit”. “Jesus teaches us this, very simply: You must wash one another’s feet […] one serves the other without interest: how nice it would be if it were possible to do this every day and for all people,” said the Pope at the Mass.
At the end of the ceremony, the director of the prison thanked the Pope and presented him with a print of the old port of Civitavecchia, some products from the prison garden and some works made by the staff and inmates. After the ceremony, the Pope went into the prison’s briefing room, where he briefly greeted about 50 people representing inmates and prison staff. After that he returned to the Vatican.
A reminder of the last supper of Jesus
In recent years, the Pope has celebrated Mass on Maundy Thursday in prisons. The tradition was suspended in 2020 and 2021 because of the pandemic. The Mass on Maundy Thursday commemorates Jesus’ Last Supper, at which he washed the feet of his twelve disciples as a sign of humility and love. Traditionally, the Maundy Thursday liturgy took place in the Lateran Basilica, the actual Roman papal church. Francis’ predecessors usually washed the feet of deserving clerics.
Francis broke with tradition at his first Easter celebration in 2013 by celebrating the service in a juvenile detention center, largely excluding the media. In 2014, he moved the rite to a facility for the disabled. Among other things, he washed the feet of a disabled Muslim from Libya. In 2015, the Pope washed the feet of inmates at Rome’s Rebibbia prison. On Maundy Thursday 2016 he visited a refugee home. He washed the feet of refugees, including several Muslims.
Francis celebrated Chrism Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on Thursday morning with priests from the Diocese of Rome and the Vatican Curia. The Chrism Mass is the prelude to the great liturgical celebrations around Easter. At the Chrism Mass, the holy oils were consecrated, which are used in the administration of baptism, confirmation, the anointing of the sick, as well as in consecration. At the same time, in St. Peter’s Basilica, several priests renewed the promises they had made at their ordination.
On Friday, Easter celebrations continue with the Good Friday liturgy at the Vatican and the Way of the Cross at the Colosseum. The 14 stations of the cross remind us of the suffering of Jesus. It is one of the most impressive ceremonies in the Roman church year. On Saturday evening, the celebration of the Easter Vigil in St. Peter’s Basilica, which lasts several hours, follows on Easter Sunday, the Easter Mass with the subsequent blessing “Urbi et orbi”.
Source: Nachrichten
