Pope Francis washes the foot of a woman during the foot-washing ritual at the Castelnuovo di Porto refugee centre, some 30 km from Rome. (Photo: AP)
Pope Francis washes the foot of a woman during the foot-washing ritual at the Castelnuovo di Porto refugee centre, some 30 km from Rome. (Photo: AP)
Pope Francis washed and kissed the feet of Muslim, Christian and Hindu refugees and declared them all children of the same God, as he performed a gesture of welcome and brotherhood at a time of increased anti-Muslim sentiment following the Brussels attacks.
Pope Francis denounced the carnage as a “gesture of war” carried out by blood-thirsty people beholden to the weapons industry during an Easter Week Mass with asylum-seekers at a shelter in Castelnuovo di Porto, outside Rome.
The Holy Thursday rite re-enacts the foot-washing ritual Jesus performed on his apostles before being crucified. Pope Francis contrasted that gesture with the “gesture of destruction” carried out by the Brussels attackers, saying they wanted to destroy the brotherhood of humanity represented by the migrants. “We have different cultures and religions, but we are brothers and we want to live in peace,” the Pope said. Several of the migrants wept as Pope Francis knelt before them, poured holy water from a brass pitcher over their feet, wiped them clean and kissed them.
The Vatican said on Thursday that four women and eight men took part. The women included an Italian Catholic, who works at the centre and three Eritrean Coptic Christian migrants. The men included four Catholics from Nigeria, three Muslims from Mali, Syria and Pakistan and a Hindu man from India.
Pope Francis was greeted with a banner reading “Welcome” in a variety of languages as he walked down a makeshift aisle to celebrate the Mass. But only a fraction of the 892 asylum-seekers living at the shelter attended, and many of the seats were left empty.
