Pope washes, kisses feet of young detainees in Holy Thursday ritual

[NBCNews]

  AFP - Getty ImagesPope Francis washes the feet of a young offender during a mass at the church of the Casal del Marmo youth prison on the outskirts of Rome as part of Holy Thursday. Pope Francis washed the feet of 12 young offenders including two girls at a Rome prison on Thursday. March 28, 2013, in an unprecedented version of an ancient Easter ritual seen as part of an effort by the new pope to bring the Catholic Church closer to the needy.  By Claudio Lavanga, Correspondent, NBC News

A group of young men and women serving time in the detention center attended the ceremony and 12 of them -- aged between 16 and 21 and chosen from different nationalities and religious backgrounds -- were picked to have their feet washed by the pope.  AFP - Getty ImagesPope Francis kisses the feet of a young offender after washing them during a mass at the church of the Casal del Marmo youth prison on the outskirts of Rome.“It is a gesture of humility and service,” Father Tom Rosica, a Vatican Press Office spokesperson, said before the ceremony.

“It teaches that liberation and new life are won not in presiding over multitudes from royal thrones nor by the quantity of bloody sacrifices offered on temple altars, but by walking with the lowly and poor and serving them as a foot-washer along the journey," he added. Read full story

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