Citing the overwhelming presence of violence and suffering in the world, Pope Leo used a centuries-old pre-Easter ceremony Thursday to urge Catholics to stand alongside those being persecuted.
“As humanity is brought to its knees by so many acts of brutality, let us too kneel down as brothers and sisters alongside the oppressed,” the pope said during the foot-washing rite at Rome’s Basilica of St. John Lateran.
The service, marking Holy Thursday, opened four days of major liturgical events ahead of Easter Sunday. Leo, who took the papacy last May and has become an outspoken critic of the Iran war in recent weeks, knelt before 12 priests and poured water over their feet one by one, drying and kissing each.
“God has given us an example — not of how to dominate, but of how to liberate,” he said before performing the ritual, which re-enacts the act of humility Jesus carried out the night before his crucifixion.
The choice of priests as recipients of the gesture was deliberate. Vatican officials said Leo wanted to express solidarity with Catholic clergy, many of whom manage multiple parishes and work extensive hours. The pope also named priests the focus of his April prayer intention, calling on the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics to pray for their well-being and encouragement.
The basilica setting itself represented a departure from recent custom. Francis, Leo’s predecessor, consistently took the ceremony outside church walls — to prisons, elder care facilities, and hospices — a practice rooted in his years as a bishop in Argentina. The late pope observed that tradition even in his final days, making an unannounced visit to Rome’s Regina Coeli prison last Easter while recuperating from a severe case of double pneumonia.
