The first revolutionary Mass in Coena Domini

Even today, we all remember that March 28, 2013, when Pope Francis, just two weeks after his election to the papal throne, inaugurated the “revolutionary” custom of celebrating the first moment of the Easter Triduum in places where people experience human suffering.
At the Casal del Marmo juvenile detention center, in a gesture that touched the heart, he poured water over the feet of twelve young prisoners and washed them. Twelve times he dried their feet with a white cloth. Twelve times he kissed the feet he had washed and dried. And twelve times he raised his eyes, smiled, shook a hand, and in turn received a smile, a thank-you, or a kiss on the hand.
Pope Francis continued this custom in the following years as well. This continued until 2023, when he returned, this time in a wheelchair, to the Casal del Marmo detention center. There he presided over Mass, leaving the celebration of the Eucharistic liturgy to his master of ceremonies, Monsignor Diego Ravelli, and the prison chaplain, Father Nicolò Ceccolini. However, as ten years earlier, also thanks to a raised platform, he washed the feet of twelve young men and women. Once again, the signs of suffering disappeared from his face, leaving room only for a smile.

Bringing Christ’s own caress

What lies behind Pope Francis’s gesture of washing and kissing prisoners’ feet? We find the answer in his own words: “Instead of doing what the clever ones teach us, cheating one another. It is so beautiful to help one another, to lend a hand.” Ten years earlier, during the homily at that first washing of the feet, he invited people to understand the gesture with these words: “Each one of us should think: ‘Am I truly willing to serve, am I willing to help the other?’ Let us think about this, and nothing more. And let us think that this sign is a caress that Jesus gives, because Jesus came precisely for this: to serve, to help us.”
On April 2, 2015, at Rebibbia prison, during the homily, without following the written text, he emphasized: “Jesus’ love for us has no limits. He never tires of loving. Anyone. He loves all of us, to the point of giving his life for us.”

Two years later, on April 13, 2017, while presiding over the evening Mass of Holy Thursday among the prisoners at the Paliano penitentiary (Frosinone), Francis spoke from the heart: “God loves us to the end, despite our sins. He knew he had been betrayed, that he was about to be handed over by Judas, but he loves ‘to the end’ and gives his life for each one of us. Loving to the end is not easy, because we are all sinners; we all have limitations, shortcomings, and many other things. We all know how to love, but we are not like God, who loves without considering the consequences, to the end. And he sets an example: to show this, he who was ‘the leader,’ who was God, washes the feet of his disciples.” And so “there is a reversal: the one who seems greatest must do the work of a slave, in order to sow love.” From this came Francis’s invitation to the prisoners, and to all of us, to help one another and to offer “a service” to the other, “because this is love; this is like washing feet. It means being a servant to others.” 

Loving and serving our neighbor, as Jesus did

At the 2018 Mass of the Lord’s Supper, before taking the basin and pitcher, as Christ did during the Last Supper with the twelve, Pope Francis emphasized that “Jesus wanted to perform this service, to give us an example of how we should serve one another. Jesus comes to serve us, and the sign that Jesus serves us here today, at Regina Coeli prison, is that he chose 12 of you, like the 12 apostles, to wash their feet. Jesus takes a risk with each one of us, coming to me and telling me that he loves me. This is service; this is Jesus: he never abandons us; he never tires of forgiving us.”
The following year, on April 18, 2019, the Mass of Holy Thursday took place at Velletri prison. Speaking informally with the prisoners, after emphasizing the meaning of the washing of the feet as Jesus’ “slave’s gesture,” he advised everyone: “Perform this gesture among yourselves as well. That is, serve one another, be brothers in service, not in ambition, like someone who dominates another or tramples another; no, be brothers in service.” And he specified: “May this gesture that I will perform today be, for all of us, a gesture that helps us to become better servants of one another, better friends, better brothers in service.” In this way, Jesus’ gesture is still embodied today.

Some questions for reflection

We conclude by leaving you with some questions that will help us reflect and make Jesus’ feelings our own.
– In your family life and in your ecclesial community, do you follow the path of service and sharing?
– Are you directly involved in serving the poor and the most vulnerable?
– Can you see the face of Christ asking to be served and loved in the poor?

Share your reflections in the comments on the post.