VATICAN CITY, Holy See: Pope Francis on Thursday visited the Rebibbia women’s prison in the northeastern outskirts of the Italian capital Rome in a rite marking Holy Thursday before Easter.
The Argentinian Jesuit, who often pleads for compassion to prisoners, washed the feet of 12 women prisoners in the Rebibbia women’s prison where he performed the same rite in 2015.
However, it was for the first time on Thursday that the 87-year-old had dedicated his annual ritual during Holy Week exclusively to women.
The pope washed the feet of each of the prisoners before drying them off with a towel and kissing them as the inmates burst into tears.
“We all have small failures, big failures,” said the pope in an impromptu homily during a mass held in the courtyard of the prison that holds some 370 women while seated in a wheelchair.
Pope Francis as a priest in Buenos Aires had already begun visiting prisoners as he believed that the washing of feet is a gesture that draws attention to the vocation of service.
A few minutes earlier, the pope was all smiles as he shook hands with the inmates.
Last month, the pope suffered from the flu, canceling some public meetings. During his subsequent recovery, he requested several times that his speeches be read by others.
In Christian tradition, Holy Thursday commemorates the day when Christ washed the apostles’ feet at the Last Supper.
It is the highlight of Holy Week, which commemorates the last day before Christ’s resurrection at Easter.
Since becoming pope in 2013, the head of the Catholic Church has visited prisons and refugee centers many times, and on Holy Thursday last year, he visited a juvenile detention center and washed the feet of 12 youths.
On Good Friday, he is due to preside over the “Way of the Cross” prayer service at Rome’s Coliseum, which he was unable to attend last year as he recovered from a bronchial infection.
