Pope Francis washed and kissed the feet of Muslim, Christian and Hindu refugees Thursday 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.

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, and is meant as a gesture of service. 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,” Francis said in his homily, delivered off-the-cuff in the windy courtyard of the center.

Several of the migrants then wept as Francis knelt before them, poured holy water from a brass pitcher over their feet, wiped them clean and kissed them.

Francis was greeted with a banner reading “Welcome” in a variety of languages as he walked down a makeshift aisle to celebrate the Mass. Those who came out, though, received a personal greeting: At the end of the Mass, Francis greeted each refugee, one by one, posing for selfies and accepting notes as he moved down the rows.

Vatican rules had long called for only men to participate in the foot-washing ritual, and past popes and many priests traditionally performed it on 12 Catholic men, recalling Jesus’ 12 apostles and further cementing the doctrine of an all-male priesthood.

Francis shocked many Catholics within weeks of his 2013 election by performing the ritual on women and Muslims at a juvenile detention center. After years of violating the rules outright, Francis in January changed the regulations to explicitly allow women and girls to participate.

The Vatican said Thursday that four women and eight men took part. The women included an Italian Catholic who works at the center 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.

The Vatican’s new norms said anyone from the “people of God” could be chosen to participate in the ceremony. While the phrase “people of God” refers to baptized Christians, the decree also said that pastors should instruct “both the chosen faithful and others so that they may participate in the rite consciously, actively and fruitfully,” suggesting that the rite could be open to non-Catholics as well.
Francis clearly intended the message to be universal.

“All of us, together: Muslims, Hindi, Catholics, Copts, Evangelicals. But brothers, children of the same God,” he said. “We want to live in peace, integrated.”

 Pope Francis washed and kissed the feet of refugees, including three Muslim men, and condemned arms makers as partly responsible for militant attacks.

He made his comments at a traditional pre-Easter ritual. This year 11 of the 12 people whose feet he washed and kissed were refugees. The ceremony commemorates Jesus’ gesture of humility towards his apostles on the night before he died.
“All of us together, Muslims, Hindus, Catholics, Copts, Evangelicals, but brothers, children of the same God, who want to live in peace, integrated,” he said in unscripted comments at a shelter north of Rome that houses refugees seeking political asylum.
“Three days ago, there was a gesture of war, of destruction, in a city of Europe by people who don’t want to live in peace,” he said.
“Behind that gesture there were arms manufacturers, arms traffickers, who want blood, not peace, who want war, not brotherhood,” he said.
In a reference to the Brussels attackers, Francis condemned “those poor creatures who buy weapons in order to destroy brotherhood,” comparing them to Judas Iscariot, the apostle who the Bible says betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.
Before Francis became pope, the ceremony was held in St. Peter’s or another Rome basilica and only included Catholic men, usually priests.
But after his election in 2013, he continued the tradition he started as archbishop of Buenos Aires, enabling women and non-Catholics to participate. Catholic conservatives have criticised him for breaking with tradition.
The refugees came from Mali, Nigeria, Eritrea, India, Syria and Pakistan. The four women in the group were three Coptic Christians from Eritrea and an Italian Catholic who works at the shelter, which is home to about 900 asylum seekers.
“Each one of you, each in your religious language, let’s pray to the Lord so that this brotherhood is contagious in the world,” he said.
He brought chocolate Easter eggs, soccer balls, and donations for the centre.

Source: REUTERS, AP, March 25