Pope Francis washes refugees' feet for Easter week

[darnkatz]

This actually made me tear up a little bit. He changed the rules so that women and people of other religions could be included.


Pope Francis washes refugees' feet for Easter Week
The traditional Easter Week foot-washing ceremony by the pontiff is meant as a Catholic gesture of service.




Pope Francis visited a refugee centre on Thursday to wash and kiss the feet of Muslim, Orthodox, Hindu and Catholic refugees in a gesture of welcome at a time when anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant sentiment has spiked following the Brussels and Paris attacks.

Francis celebrated the traditional Easter Week foot-washing ceremony at a refugee shelter in Castelnuovo di Porto, outside Rome, inaugurating the most solemn period of the Catholic Church's Easter season.

The Holy Thursday rite re-enacts the foot-washing ritual Jesus performed on his apostles before being crucified, and is meant as a gesture of service.


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Francis was greeted with a banner reading "Welcome" in a variety of languages as he processed down a makeshift aisle to celebrate the outdoor Mass.

A fraction of the 892 asylum-seekers currently living at the shelter attended, though others milled around nearby and filmed the event on their smartphones.

Vatican rules had long called for only men to participate in the ritual, and past popes and many priests traditionally performed it on 12 Catholic men, recalling Jesus' 12 apostles and further cementing the doctrine of an all-male priesthood.

But after years of violating the rules outright, Francis in January changed the regulations to explicitly allow women and girls to participate.

The Vatican said on Thursday that four women and eight men had been selected. The women include an Italian who works at the centre and three Eritrean Coptic Christian migrants. The men include four Catholics from Nigeria, three Muslims from Mali, Syria and Pakistan, and a Hindu from India.

The new norms said anyone from the "people of God" could be chosen to participate in the ceremony.

While the phrase "people of God" usually refers to baptised Christians, the decree also said that pastors should instruct "both the chosen faithful and others so that they may participate in the rite consciously, actively and fruitfully", suggesting that the rite could be open to non-Catholics as well.

[panicked]

I am really pleased with how this Pope is changing things for the better, even though I'm not catholic. But...

The only thing I can think of is with my luck, I'd just have done a baby foot peel before this and I'd end up with the Pope praying for my mysteriously disgusting foot condition. That'd be great on social media...

[One Girl In All The World]

This warms the cockles of my cold, atheist heart.

[anna7602]

This Easter, despite being a lapsed Catholic, I'm going to thank Jesus for a world in which Pope Francis and Obama exist.

[bugandbibs]

The parishes I grew up in always included females. I never realized this was rebellious.

It is humbling to wash another person's feet. I feel like so much of our life is written in our feet.

[looksgood]

Mar 24, 2016 18:55:52 GMT -5 panicked said:

I am really pleased with how this Pope is changing things for the better, even though I'm not catholic. But...

The only thing I can think of is with my luck, I'd just have done a baby foot peel before this and I'd end up with the Pope praying for my mysteriously disgusting foot condition. That'd be great on social media...

We just returned from Mass where our priest picked my family to have our feet washed. I knew this was happening so I my daughter and I had pedicures done yesterday. As he was washing them tonight, he joked that the Church doesn't reimburse for pedicures lol.

[nursewife]

This makes me soul happy.

[insominac]

We wash each other's feet at my church. It's one of my favorite parts of the liturgical year.

[livinitup]

I love this Pope so much.

[jillboston]

He walks in the shoes of Jesus. What an example to us all. I am humbled.

[mrsukyankee]

He's so much more representative of Jesus and his preaching than anyone else I know.

[sfy]

Mar 24, 2016 19:28:14 GMT -5 anna7602 said:

This Easter, despite being a lapsed Catholic, I'm going to thank Jesus for a world in which Pope Francis and Obama exist.

Yes. It's a wonderful time to be alive! Between my President and my Pope, it's too much, I'm not worthy .

[bernsteincat]

FGF indeed. What a wonderful example he sets for everyone.

[iammalcolmx]

Mar 24, 2016 21:58:40 GMT -5 jillboston said:

He walks in the shoes of Jesus. What an example to us all. I am humbled.

AMEN

[underwaterrhymes]

I am not Catholic, nor am I particularly religious, but I believe he has a beautiful soul.

[raangoli]

Mar 25, 2016 10:28:01 GMT -5 underwaterrhymes said:

I am not Catholic, nor am I particularly religious, but I believe he has a beautiful soul.

Same. This moved me to tears.

[picksthemusic]

I love my Pope. I was raised Lutheran and the idea of a Pope was always kind of weird for me - and then I converted while Benedict was Pope. Didn't make it any easier.

But this? This is my Pope. This is what a Pope should be, all things considered. This was one of my favorite times at church, when we would wash each other's feet. So humbling and so precious.

Feel Good Friday, indeed.