Overview
- Pope Leo XIV performed the Holy Thursday foot-washing on twelve priests at Rome’s Lateran Basilica, including eleven he ordained last year and a seminary chaplain.
- He told worshippers the rite is a call to service and love, urging people to kneel for the oppressed as a sign of solidarity.
- The choice marks a break from Pope Francis’s practice of washing the feet of migrants and prisoners, which some praised as outward outreach and others saw as different from supporting clergy.
- Vatican reporters say Leo XIV plans to carry the cross through all 14 Stations at the Colosseum on Good Friday, which would be the first time a pope has done so continuously in more than six decades.
- Foot-washing recalls Jesus’s act at the Last Supper and has been part of the Mass since Pope Pius XII set it in 1955, with observers noting Leo XIV is the second pope from the Americas and has paired ritual choices with low-key pastoral visits.