In rite, pope bathes feet of 12 prisoners

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis washed the feet of a dozen inmates at a maximum security prison on Holy Thursday in a pre-Easter ritual meant to show his willingness to serve society’s most marginal and give them hope. Francis urged the prisoners to help one another out and similarly “be the servant of others.”

Francis traveled to the Paliano detention center in a fortress south of Rome to celebrate Holy Thursday Mass at the only Italian prison dedicated to housing mafia turncoats. These “collaborators of justice” can shave time off their sentences by cooperating with anti-mafia prosecutors.

In his homily, Francis reminded the inmates that his gesture of washing their feet re-enacted the revolutionary gesture of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples before he was crucified, essentially doing the work of a slave out of love.

“If you can do something, a service for your companions in prison, do it,” Francis urged them during his homily. “This is love. This is like washing feet: to be the servant of others.”

It’s the third Holy Thursday that Francis has spent at a prison, part of his long-standing emphasis on ministering to prisoners and the need to give them rehabilitation and hope.

“The Holy Father gave us message not just of hope, but he told us that the love of God is great and is ready to forgive everyone,” prison Director Nadia Cersosimo told Vatican Radio.

Paliano has 60 to 70 inmates, including about 50 mafia turncoats. The prison also houses four women and has a special ward for tuberculosis-infected inmates.