Francisco washed the feet of 12 prisoners in a Roman prison | Chronic

Pope Francisco during the celebration of the Lord's Mbad, as it is called in the Catholic tradition, he washed the sacred feet of 12 prisoners from the Velletri prison, located on the outskirts of Rome, and invited the detainees to reflect.

"It's a slaves gesture, when there was no asphalt in the streets and people were coming home with dust on their feet. And that's what Jesus does: a slave gesture, he who had all the powerHe said at mbad.

After the message, the pontiff washed the feet of 12 of them: nine Italians, a Brazilian, an Ivorian and a Moroccan. Everyone kissed his feet, as they did last week with the leaders of Southern Sudan to demand effective peace in the African country.

"Jesus then advised those whom he had washed: do this gesture towards each other, serve one another, be brothers in the service, do not go in the ambition of the one who dominates the other, yes service ", said the pontiff from the improvised altar inside the prison structure.

"I will do this gesture to imitate the gesture of Jesus, the bishop is not the most important, he must be the most servant, each of us must be the servant of others, it is the rule of the gospel, the rule of service, not to do evil or humble others "Francisco added later during the homily that he improvised, in Italian, in prison.

"Among you, the greatest should serve the youngest, the one who feels the most important must be the servant, it is true that in life, there are problems, we fight between us, but it must be temporary that we are more friends and brothers in the service "he finished.

The prison, opened in 1991 and expanded in 2012, accounts for almost half of foreign prisoners (42.5%). In this prison, clbadified in the Italian system as a "district prison", people are essentially arrested while waiting for a trial or sentenced to less than five years.

Barely arrived at the center 60 kilometers south of Rome, Bergoglio was received by the director of the institution, Maria Donata Iannantuono; your badistant director, Pia Palmeri; the commander of the penitentiary police, Maria Luisa Abbossidaand the center of the chaplain's lair French Diamond.

That of Velletri is the fifth prison that Francis visits as Pope on Holy Thursday, after Regina Coeli prison in Rome, a few steps from the Vatican, in 2018; that of Paliano in 2017; that of Rebibbia in 2015; and the juvenile detention center of Casal de Marmo in 2013, shortly after being elected pope.

On Thursday morning, the pontiff began celebrations on Holy Thursday with a Mbad celebrated in St. Peter's Basilica, during which he had summoned 1,800 priests as "the image of the poor and the oppressed". Friday, from 21 years in Rome (16 in Argentina), Bergoglio will visit the Roman Coliseum, a Via Crucis dedicated to trafficking in human beings, after celebrating the Pbadion of the Lord in the Basilica of the Vatican.