Skip to content

Pope Francis washes feet of young inmates on Holy Thursday 2023

Pope Francis washed the feet of 12 young men and women, inmates at a juvenile prison in Rome, during a Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Thursday.

The pope presided over the livestreamed Mass for more than 80 inmates, family, staff, and guards in the chapel of the Casal del Marmo juvenile detention center on Rome’s outskirts on April 6.

Pope Francis presided over a livestreamed Mass for more than 80 inmates, family, staff, and guards in the chapel of the Casal del Marmo juvenile detention center on Rome’s outskirts on April 6, 2023. Credit: Vatican Media
Pope Francis presided over a livestreamed Mass for more than 80 inmates, family, staff, and guards in the chapel of the Casal del Marmo juvenile detention center on Rome’s outskirts on April 6, 2023. Credit: Vatican Media

In an off-the-cuff homily, Francis reflected on the meaning of Christ’s choice to wash the feet of his disciples.

 

“Washing the feet was a habit at that time,” he said. “But who washed the feet? The slaves.”

He explained that Jesus performed this gesture to help his disciples better understand what would happen the next day at his crucifixion.

The lesson we should take from this is to help one another, the pope said. “Jesus, today, with this celebration, wants to teach us this: nobility of heart.”

Pope Francis presided over a livestreamed Mass for more than 80 inmates, family, staff, and guards in the chapel of the Casal del Marmo juvenile detention center on Rome’s outskirts on April 6, 2023. Credit: Vatican Media
Pope Francis presided over a livestreamed Mass for more than 80 inmates, family, staff, and guards in the chapel of the Casal del Marmo juvenile detention center on Rome’s outskirts on April 6, 2023. Credit: Vatican Media

Pope Francis, who was in the hospital for three days last week for treatment for bronchitis, arrived at the prison in a white Fiat. He was brought inside the chapel in a wheelchair and during the Mass he mostly remained seated.

At the end of his homily, Francis said he will repeat Jesus’ gesture of the washing of the feet as a reminder of the lesson to help one another. “Life is more beautiful like that,” he said.

“During the washing of the feet — I hope to get there because I can’t walk well — during the washing of the feet, think: Jesus washed my feet, Jesus saved me,” he urged the young people.

“[Someone might think,] ‘but I have this difficulty, this…’” he added. “It will pass! The Lord is next to you and he will never abandon you, never. Think of this.”

After the homily, Pope Francis walked with the help of a cane to where 10 young men and two young women sat on a raised platform near the altar.

The platform allowed the pope to wash and kiss their feet without getting all the way on the ground as he has done in past years.

Pope Francis washes and kisses the feet of 12 young men and women, inmates at Casal del Marmo juvenile detention center on Rome’s outskirts, during a Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Thursday, April 6, 2023. Credit: Vatican Media
Pope Francis washes and kisses the feet of 12 young men and women, inmates at Casal del Marmo juvenile detention center on Rome’s outskirts, during a Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Thursday, April 6, 2023. Credit: Vatican Media

The Mass of the Lord’s Supper, offered on the evening of Holy Thursday, marks Christ’s institution of the Eucharist and the Mass.

Pope Francis told the young prison inmates that Jesus is never shocked by what we are on the inside, because he already knows our weaknesses: “He is never scared, because he has already paid [our debt]. He just wants to accompany us, he wants to take us by the hand so that life is not so hard for us.”

We often see the many bad things in society, he said, and we think, “thank goodness I am not like that!”

“If I’m not like that it’s for the grace of God,” he said. “Each one of us could stray. Each one of us.”

During his time as pope — and as a bishop before that — Francis has made it a regular tradition to celebrate Holy Thursday Mass with the imprisoned.

Pope Francis presided over a livestreamed Mass for more than 80 inmates, family, staff, and guards in the chapel of the Casal del Marmo juvenile detention center on Rome’s outskirts on April 6, 2023. Credit: Vatican Media
Pope Francis presided over a livestreamed Mass for more than 80 inmates, family, staff, and guards in the chapel of the Casal del Marmo juvenile detention center on Rome’s outskirts on April 6, 2023. Credit: Vatican Media

His first Holy Thursday Mass as pope, just 15 days after his election, was also at Casal del Marmo prison on the northwest outskirts of Rome.

The juvenile detention center has approximately 50 young people ages 14-25, from different countries and with diverse ethnicities, backgrounds, and religions, according to Vatican News.

In the morning on Thursday, Pope Francis presided over a chrism Mass with more than 1,800 priests in St. Peter’s Basilica. He thanked priests for the “hidden good” they do, often in a ministry carried out “with great effort and little recognition.”

Despite his illness and hospitalization last week, Francis was expected to preside over an intense schedule of Holy Week liturgies and services.

Receive the most important news from EWTN Vatican via WhatsApp. It has become increasingly difficult to see Catholic news on social media. Subscribe to our free channel today

Share

Would you like to receive the latest updates on the Pope and the Vatican

Receive articles and updates from our EWTN Newsletter.

More news related to this article

Why are Saint Peter and Saint Paul celebrated on the same day?

Here are five key points to understand why they are celebrated on the same date

Pope Francis: Gender ideology is ‘one of the most dangerous ideological colonizations’ today

Pope Francis has said that gender ideology is “one of the most dangerous ideological colonizations” today. In an

Pope Francis will not pray public Angelus from hospital on Sunday

Pope Francis to Pray Sunday Angelus in Private as Doctors Advise Resting Abdominal Muscles

New complaints of abuse by Father Rupnik presented to Vatican

Five new complaints of alleged abuse committed by Father Marko Rupnik have been presented to the Dicastery for

Religious sister tells how she discovered her vocation at a WYD thanks to Benedict XVI

Speaking from World Youth Day in Lisbon, the “City of Joy,” a Iesu Communio (Communion in Jesus) sister

LIVE
FROM THE VATICAN

Be present live on EWTN.it