Thursday, 17 April 2014

Pope Francis washes feet of elderly and disabled for the annual Holy Thursday ritual before Easter

Pope of the catholic Church, Pope Francis today at the annual Maundy Thursday washed the feet of 12 elderly and disabled people Thursday - women and non-Catholics among them - in a pre-Easter ritual designed to show his willingness to serve others like a 'slave'.
Francis' decision in 2013 to perform the Holy Thursday ritual on women and Muslim inmates at a juvenile detention center helped define his rule-breaking papacy just two weeks after his election.
It riled traditionalist Catholics, who pointed to the Vatican's own regulations that the ritual be performed only on men since Jesus' 12 apostles were men.

But as archbishop of Buenos Aires, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio frequently performed the ritual on women - a practice that he seems intent on keeping up now that he is pope.
This year Francis was at a centre for the elderly and disabled in Rome. Francis kneeled down, washed, dried and kissed the feet of a dozen people, some in wheelchairs, some with grossly swollen and disfigured feet.
The Vatican didn't release the exact breakdown of their religious backgrounds, but said they came from various religious confessions. Italian news reports said one was a Libyan Muslim.

He wont stop amazing us with his humane Character. one thing that makes me admire him so much is that its not done for the camera, its the way he lives, things he does are the things that defines him not just as a Pope but as a normal human like you and I.
I pray God gives him the strength he needs in doing the great work of reforming the church.

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