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Pope Francis continues his campaign of urging people to have mercy and love each other, especially as the Holy Week is on and going. Many say that Pope Francis may be the most popular and charismatic religious leaders that the world has seen in a long time. He constantly offers new examples and models and morals which not rarely impress people and make them think about their own spiritual component.
For the third year consecutively, Pope Francis accomplished the ritual of the Holy Thursday outside a religious building. As he declared, he wants to be at the service of the most disadvantaged members of the society, preaching love and care for the poor population. A prison in Rome was the place where Pope Francis washed the feet of twelve prisoners, including women. Until now, the ritual which commemorates the gesture made by Jesus Christ to show his love to the twelve apostles, have only been accomplished by the other popes inside the John Lateran basilica or in Vatican. The predecessors of the Catholic leader have only washed the feet of men.
“Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.“
is the paragraph that can be found in the Bible about the moment which Pope Francis imitated. It is found at John 13:1-38.
This impressive moment has been started by Pope Francis since he was in the position of archbishop of Argentina`s capital, Buenos Aires. Ever since, he preferred the company of such poor, sad, ignored people on moment like the Easter or the Holy Week, the most important part of the Christian year.
Such `controversial` actions are not well regarded by the conservative religious people.
Image Source: The Sydney Morning Herald
