Pope Washes Inmates Feet

As part of the observances of Maundy Thursday, the Holy Thursday before Easter that
commemorates the story of Jesus’ Last Supper, Pope Francis washed and kissed the feet of 12 inmates at a maximum security prison for mafia turncoats on Thursday.

The centuries-old tradition evokes the scene from Christian scripture in which Jesus washed the feet of his 12 disciples before he was crucified.

“If you can do something, a service for your companions in prison, do it,” Francis told the inmates during his homily. “This is love. This is like washing feet: to be the servant of others.”

The pontiff knelt down before a group of nine men and three women, including one Muslim man,  according to Reuters. The group included 10 Italians, one person from Albania and a prisoner from Francis’s native Argentina.

Pope Francis washes the feet of some inmates at the Paliano prison, south of Rome, Italy April 13, 2017. Osservatore Romano/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS – THIS PICTURE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVE

The pope also celebrated a Mass for the 70 inmates at the prison, which is housed in a 16th century fortress south of Rome in Paliano, Italy.

Two of the inmates who participated in the ritual foot-washing are serving life sentences, while the other 10 are due to be released between 2019 and 2073. Francis also visited two other inmates currently in solitary confinement, according to the Assumptionociated Press.

The high-security prison primarily houses prisoners known as “collaborators of justice” ― former members of organized crime groups who have turned evidence over to the state to testify against other members.

He explained his reasoning for visiting inmates on Holy Thursday. “Some say: ‘They are guilty.’ I respond with Jesus’ words: ‘Whoever is not guilty, throw the first stone,’” he said, according to a translation from Crux. “Let’s look inside ourselves and we will come to see our own guilt. And then the heart will become more human.

In previous years, Francis has observed Maundy Thursday by washing the feet of refugees, the elderly and people with disabilities. Shortly after his election as pope in 2013, the pontiff made waves by including women in his foot washing ceremony at a juvenile detention center.