Pope Francis visited a refugee center Thursday to wash and kiss the
feet of Muslim, Orthodox, Hindu and Catholic migrants in a gesture of
welcome at a time when anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant sentiment has
spiked following the Brussels and Paris attacks.
AP reports that 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.
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 Thursday that four women and eight men had been
selected. The women include an Italian who works at the center 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 baptized 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.
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