Francisco celebrates Holy Thursday with Velletri detainees

The Holy Father was received with great emotion by the prisoners of the penitentiary center, who celebrated with a deep memory the Mbad of Holy Thursday, the day on which Jesus instituted the Eucharist. In his homily, Francis emphasized that Jesus' gesture of washing the feet of his disciples should help us to "be more brothers in the service".

Vatican City

On Thursday, April 18, around five o'clock in the afternoon, Pope Francis presided at the Lord's Supper Mbad with which we begin the celebration of the Easter Triduum at Velletri Penitentiary Center, located about 60 kilometers from Rome, next to detainees, civilian personnel and prison policemen.

At the Eucharistic celebration, the Pope washed the feet of a mixed group of twelve inmates commemorating Jesus' gesture with his disciples at the Last Supper. The Pontiff arrived at the penitentiary at 4.30 pm and was received by the director, Maria Donata Iannantuono, Deputy Director Pia Palmeri, Police Commander Maria Luisa Abbossida and Padre Don Franco Diamante. As reported vaticannews

Holy Thursday with the Lord

This is the fifth time that Francisco celebrates Mbad "at Coena Domini" in a prison. He had already done so in the Roman cities of Rebibbia, Paliano and Regina Coeli. The structure visited by the Holy Father contains 577 people, including 50 in prison. It is a medium security institute with two precautionary sectionsone aimed at former collaborators of justice (the only one in Italy) and the other in mental health. 60% of the prison population is foreign.

The prisoners of Velletri received the Holy Father with great emotion and celebrated with a deep memory the Mbad of Holy Thursday, the day on which Jesus instituted the Eucharist and the universal command of "to love him". the one as he loved us first ".

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Look at Jesus who bears the cross with love

Francisco made a spontaneous homily, without words, speaking with an emotional heart in front of the faces of the presents: each one carries on his back his history of life, his pains and sorrows; in short, his own cross. In this journey carrying our own human crosses, we Christians are invited to fix our gaze on Jesusand follow his example which, despite the fact that he has no sin, accepted with dignity and love the boring weight of his cross, offered for the salvation of humanity.

Homily of the Pope

In contemplating this mystery of the Son of God, every Christian finds strength and hope to always move forward, always towards the light and that is what Francisco transmitted to the detainees on this holy Thursday. Then we share the transcription of the pope's homily.

"I greet you all and thank you for your welcome.

A few days ago, I received a beautiful letter from a group of you who will not be here today, but who said such beautiful things. Thank you for what you have written. In this prayer I am very united to all: to those who are here and those who are not here.

We heard what Jesus did at the Last Supper. It's interesting. The Gospel says: "Jesus knowing that the Father had put everything in his hands", that is to say that Jesus had all the power, everything. And then, he started doing this gesture of washing his feet. It was a gesture of the slaves of the time because there was no asphalt in the streets and people, when a place came, had dust on their feet ; When they came to a house for a visit or lunch, there were slaves washing their feet. And Jesus makes this gesture: He washes their feet. He gestured like a slave: He who had all the power, who was the Lord, made the gesture like a slave.

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And then he counseled everyone, "Do this among you," that is, serve one another, be brothers in service, and not the ambition of those who dominate others, those who trample on others or those who … No: service, service. Do you need something, a service? I will do it for you. It's fraternity. Fraternity is humble, always: it is at the service.

And now I'm going to make this gesture – the Church wants the bishop to do it every year, once a year, at least on Holy Thursday – to imitate the gesture of Jesus and also to do good by the example, because the bishop is not the most important: the bishop must be the most servant. And each of us must serve others. It is the rule of Jesus and the rule of the Gospel: the rule of service, not domination, evil, humiliation of others. Service

Once, when the apostles quarreled among themselves, they quarreled "who is the most important among us," Jesus took a child and said, "The child. If your heart is not like the heart of a childYou will not be my disciples. A child's heart, simple, humble, but servant. And there, he adds something interesting that we can relate to this gesture of today. He says, "Take care, the leaders of the nations rule. They dominate. That does not have to be like that between you. The largest must serve the smallest. The one who feels bigger must be a servant. "We must also be servants, it is true that there are problems in life: we argue among ourselves … but that must be something that happens, something temporary, because in our hearts, there must always be this love to serve the other, to be at the service of the other.

And that this act that I am going to do today will be for all of us a gesture that will help us to be more servants of each other, more friends, more brothers … more brothers in the service . With these feelings, we continue the celebration by washing our feet.