Pope Francis sets a sign of humility and mercy – washing the feet of imprisoned women in Rome.
Pope Francis celebrated the traditional Holy Communion Mass and washed the feet of inmates in a women’s prison in Rome on Maundy Thursday. After mass with about 200 inmates and guards at the Rebibbia Correctional Facility, he washed and kissed the feet of twelve incarcerated women. The 87-year-old pontiff performed the ritual, a sign of religious humility, on the inmates sitting on a platform in a wheelchair because of his knee problem.
The ritual of washing the feet goes back to a biblical gesture by Jesus Christ to his disciples at the Last Supper.
According to the Holy See, the prisoners are of different origins and nationalities. Francis greeted each of them individually after washing, drying and kissing them. Some of them were visibly moved by the foot washing and wept. The Rebibbia women’s prison is one of the largest in Italy. The prison has been struggling with overcrowding for some time.
During his public appearances, Pope Francis often reminds people of people on the fringes of society. Washing the feet of convicted criminals is therefore close to his heart.
By washing his feet in prison, the Argentine is following a custom that he had already introduced as Archbishop of Buenos Aires. Eleven years ago, in the first year of his pontificate, Francis, who had been elected just 15 days earlier, visited a detention center in Rome. His predecessors had celebrated the pre-Easter foot washing in the Apostolic Palace or St. Peter’s Basilica and washed the feet of other priests there.
Source: Stern
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