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, 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