The Pope washed the feet of twelve prisoners and encouraged them to "twin" – International

Like Jesus with his disciples at the Last Supper, Pope Francis today washed the feet of twelve inmates in a prison near Rome and encouraged them to avoid any temptation to dominate and help themselves. mutually, to become "more friends and brothers".

The Argentine pontiff went to the Velletri penitentiary (center) to commemorate "Holy Thursday" the "Lord's Supper" and, in his impromptu homily, he recalled the importance of the ritual washing of feet, celebrated by Jesus of Nazareth to his apostles.

Francisco explained that Jesus Christ, although being the son of God, realized with his faithful this gesture of slaves, who at that time were cleaning the dust and dirt of the shoes of the people who were visiting the house of their masters.

"Serve one another, be brothers in the service and not in the ambition of one who dominates or mistreats the other.It is fraternity.Fraternity is always humble," said the pontiff, before stressing that this "service rule" This also affects the high clergy.

"The bishop is not the most important, but it should even be the most useful," he said.

Francisco insisted in front of the prisoners, but also before the prison staff and the security guards, that "the greatest ones must serve the smallest".

"The one who feels the greatest must be a servant, it is true that in life, there are problems, we argue between us, but it must be temporary, because in our hearts, there must always be this love to serve our neighbor, "he said.

Then Francisco washed the feet of twelve prisoners, nine Italians, a Brazilian, an Ivorian and another of Moroccan origin.

As usual, he knelt in front of them and, with a bowl and a silver bowl, was washed, dried with a towel and kissed the feet of the twelve prisoners, all men.

During his visit to this penitentiary, the Argentine pope again testified to his special attention to prisoners, whose situation and reintegration he often refers to. It's the fifth time he's going to a jail on Holy Thursday, while he's been pope for seven years.

The director of the prison, Maria Donata Iannantuono, thanked him at the end of the Eucharist, telling the pope the difficult conditions in the center, overwhelmed like the majority in Italy by overpopulation, with 570 prisoners for a little more 400 places.

In addition, institutions suffer from a "serious lack of prison police" which causes "hard working methods" for staff, often unable to "guarantee adequate working conditions for workers" and "fundamental rights" to detainees. Is he complaining?

To finish the ceremony, Francisco, who has received a letter from the prisoners in recent days, greeted the people present at the mbad, received gifts and left to the applause of the center.

This morning, he also celebrated Mbad at St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, a rite marking the beginning of Holy Week and also serves to commemorate the institution of the sacrament of the order of priests, according to the Christian tradition.

For this reason, in his homily, he addressed the clergy to encourage priests to touch the "wounds" of the faithful, to get involved in their problems, their situations and realities, thus defending that priests could not only be "bottle oil dispensers", in reference to the rite of anointing.

"We lay hands on each other by touching the wounds, sins and anguish of the people, scouring their hands to touch their faith, their hopes, their loyalty and the unconditional generosity of their dedication", he declares.

It was thus that Francis began the so-called "Easter Triduum", the three days preceding Easter, which will continue tomorrow with the celebration of the Pbadion of the Lord and the traditional "Via Crucis" in the Roman Coliseum, symbol of the persecution of the early Christians and this year has focused on the tragedy of immigrants.