World

Pope Francis To Wash Feet Of Refugees On Holy Thursday

REUTERS/Tony Gentile

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Casey Harper Contributor
Font Size:

Pope Francis will wash the feet of refugees on Holy Thursday, a symbolic act that comes just days after Palm Sunday when he compared countries that won’t accept refugees to leaders who allowed Jesus to be crucified.

The ceremony, which commemorates how Jesus washed the feet of his disciples just before his death, will take place at an asylum center about 15 miles north of Rome, Vatican Radio reports.

“We can understand the symbolic value intended by Pope Francis’ visit to the CARA in Castelnuovo di Porto and his bending down to wash the feet of refugees,” Archbishop Rino Fisichella wrote in L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper“His actions mean to tell us that it is important to pay due attention to the weakest in this historic moment; that we are all called to restore their dignity without resorting to subterfuge. We are urged to look forward to Easter with the eyes of those who make of their faith a life lived in service to those whose faces bear signs of suffering and violence.”

Pope Francis has used Holy Week to send a message about refugees.

“Jesus also suffered on his own skin indifference, because no one wanted to take on the responsibility for his destiny,” Francis said Sunday. “And I am thinking of so many people, so many on the margins, so many refugees” for whom “many don’t want to assume responsibility for their destiny.”

Send tips to casey@dailycallernewsfoundation.org. Follow Casey on Twitter and like him on Facebook.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.