Pope Francis washed and kissed the feet of 12 disabled people – several of them women and one a Muslim man – as he brought his inclusive touch to a Maundy Thursday rite restricted to men under previous pontiffs.
At the Don Gnocchi centre in Rome, the Argentinian kept to his ground-breaking choices of last Easter, when he stunned traditionalists not only by taking the ritual to a youth detention centre but also by becoming the first pope to include females.
The Vatican said that of the dozen people chosen this year, nine were Italian, one from Cape Verde and one from Ethiopia. A 75-year-old man from Libya who suffered serious neurological impairment in an accident, was Muslim. Between them, the group, many of whom were in wheelchairs, ranged in age from 16 to 86.
The ceremony represents Jesus's final act of humility towards his disciples.
