On Holy Thursday, Pope Francis washed the feet of twelve young people – ten boys and women of different ages and nationalities – in the youth detention center of Casal del Marmo, on the outskirts of Rome. Among them was a Muslim. Before washing the feet, Francis celebrated a Mass with the young people in the presence of about 100 people.
It’s the same prison where he washed the feet of imprisoned men and women on Maundy Thursday ten years ago – shortly after his election as Pope. The Pope arrived at the altar for the ceremony in a wheelchair. «It’s so beautiful to help each other, to extend a hand. They are universal human gestures. With the gesture of washing the feet, Jesus wants to teach us the nobility of the heart, “explained the Holy Father.
In recent years, the Pope has celebrated Holy Thursday Mass in several prisons. The tradition had been suspended in 2020 and 2021 because of the pandemic, but last year the pope had the feet of the condemned grow back in the prison of Civitavecchia, north of Rome. The Holy Thursday Mass commemorates Jesus’ Last Supper, in which he washed the feet of his twelve apostles as a sign of humility and love. Traditionally, the Holy Thursday liturgy took place in the Lateran Basilica, the current Roman papal church. Francis’ predecessors used to wash the feet of deserving clerics.
break with tradition
Francis broke with tradition at his first Easter celebration in 2013 by celebrating service in a juvenile detention center, excluding the media. In 2014, he transferred the rite to an institution for the disabled. Among other things, he washed the feet of a handicapped Muslim from Libya. In 2015, the Pope washed the feet of inmates at the Rebibbia prison in Rome. 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, holy oils are consecrated, which are used in the administration of baptism, confirmation, anointing of the sick, as well as in consecration. At the same time, in St. Peter’s Basilica, several priests renewed the promises made at ordination.
On Friday, the Easter celebrations will continue with the Good Friday liturgy in the Vatican and the Way of the Cross in the Coliseum. The 14 stations of the cross remind us of Jesus’ suffering. It is one of the most impressive ceremonies of the Roman ecclesiastical year. On Saturday night, the celebration of the Easter Vigil in St. Peter’s Basilica, which lasts several hours, continues on Easter Sunday, followed by the Easter Mass with the successive blessing “Urbi et orbi”.