“Your Holiness, it's a pleasure. Greetings from Regina Coeli. Thank you for this gift. Thank you.”
Pope Francis was welcomed with this greeting from the prison director at Regina Coeli penitentiary.
The pope chose the Roman prison to celebrate the Mass of the Lord's Supper, a ceremony that includes the rite of the washing of the feet. First, Pope Francis chose to explain the meaning of this gesture.
POPE FRANCIS
“At the entrance of the house were the slaves who washed the feet. It was slave work, but it was a service, a service done by slaves. Jesus wants to do this service to give us an example of how to serve one another.”
He also told them Jesus' gesture with His Apostles is the same gesture they had received during this Holy Week ceremony.
POPE FRANCIS
“The sign that Jesus serves us here today, in Regina Coeli, is that he wanted to choose 12 of you, like 12 Apostles, to wash your feet.”
Later, Pope Francis – with towel in hand – bent down to carry out the rite of the washing of the feet, the same gesture of one who came to serve, not to be served. On the day of brotherly love, the pope washed the feet of these 12 men: eight Catholics, two Muslims, one Orthodox and one Buddhist.
