Robert Mickens reports in The Tablet:
Pope Francis has opened the Sacred Triduum with Mass of the Lord's Supper at a juvenile prison on the outskirts of Rome where he washed and kissed the feet of 12 inmates - including two girls and two Muslims. "It is touching to be here with you," the Pope told the approximately fifty young offenders of the Casal del Marmo corrections institute. "As a priest and bishop I have to be at your service. But you, too, help each other!" he said during a brief, four-minute homily. "Helping each other will help you," he added.
Later, at a reception where he met individually with the inmates and about sixty others who were present, the Pope told the youths, "Don't let yourselves be robbed of hope. Keep going forward!" A young man who spoke on behalf of the residents said, "We only want to know one thing: why did the pope want to come visit us?" Pope Francis said it was a "sentiment of his heart" and something that would help him "more to be humble". Then he added: "Things of the heart have no explanation!"
...A small folk group led the singing of hymns and the Mass parts to the accompaniment of a guitar. Vatican spokesman, Fr Federico Lombardi SJ, said the evening was an "extremely moving" experience.
(read the complete report in The Tablet)
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I am astounded, and so very deeply grateful.
ReplyDeleteYour Tablet links are broken, fyi.
ReplyDeleteIt is a moment to remember....very overwhelming and brings so much hope to all of us.
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