Show of humility – Pope washes the feet of juvenile delinquents

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On Maundy Thursday, Pope Francis washed the feet of twelve young people – ten boys and women of different ages and nationalities – in the juvenile detention center of Casal del Marmo on the outskirts of Rome. Among them was a Muslim. Before washing his feet, Francis celebrated mass with the youth in the presence of about 100 people.

It is the same prison where ten years ago – shortly after his election as pope – he washed the feet of male and female prisoners on Maundy Thursday. The pope reached the altar for the ceremony in a wheelchair. “It’s so nice to help each other, lend a hand. These are universal human gestures. With the gesture of washing the feet, Jesus wants to teach us the nobility of the heart,” explains the Holy Father.

Francis resumed the tradition
In recent years, the pope has celebrated Mass on Maundy Thursday in various prisons. The tradition had been suspended in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic, but last year the pope resumed washing the feet of convicts in Civitavecchia prison, north of Rome. Maundy Thursday Mass commemorates Jesus’ Last Supper, when he washed the feet of his twelve apostles as a sign of humility and love. Traditionally, the Maundy Thursday liturgy took place in the Lateran Basilica, the Roman Pontifical Church proper. Francis’s predecessors used to wash the feet of deserving clergy.

Francis broke with tradition at his first Easter celebration in 2013 by keeping the service largely out of the media in a juvenile detention center. 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 prisoners at Rome’s Rebibbia prison. On Maundy Thursday 2016 he visited a refugee house. He washed the feet of refugees, including several Muslims.

precede liturgical celebrations
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. During the Chrism Mass, the holy oils are consecrated, which are used in baptism, confirmation, anointing of the sick and ordination. At the same time, several priests in St. Peter’s Basilica renewed the vows they had made at their ordination.

On Friday, Easter celebrations continue with the Good Friday liturgy in the Vatican and the Way of the Cross in 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, followed by the Easter Mass with the subsequent benediction “Urbi et orbi”.

Source: Krone

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