In continuing a custom he’s observed since his time as the cardinal-archbishop of Buenos Aires, Pope Francis will again visit a prison on Holy Thursday for the annual Mass of the Lord’s Supper and feet-washing ceremony.
The Holy See Press Office announced this week that the 87-year-old pope will go to the women’s section of Rebibbia Prison on the outskirts of Rome. And as as he did last year at a juvenile corrections facility in another of the Italian capital, will wash the feet of the female inmates – a symbolic gesture the commemorates Christ’s washing of his disciples’ feet at the Last Supper.
Although Francis was been dealing with the flue and bronchitis the past several days, the Vatican has confirmed that he will participate in all the Holy Week celebrations. He is scheduled to preside at Mass in St. Peter’s Square on Palm Sunday, which marks the Church’s holiest week of the year and culminates with Easter.
The pope will also preside at the Chrism Mass on March 28 and the Good Friday liturgy the following day. Both celebrations will be in St. Peter’s Basilica. He is expected to preside at the Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) at the Colosseum in historic Rome, which is slated for 9:15 p.m. on Good Friday.
Finally, Francis is to preside at the Easter Vigil on the evening of March 30, and then at the Easter Sunday Mass the next morning. At 12-noon will go to the central balcony on the facade of St. Peter’s deliver the traditional “Urbi et Orbi” Message and Blessing to the city and the world.
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