Pope washes prisoners' feet in Easter rite

By Dario Thuburn ,AFP
March 30, 2013, 12:17 am TWN

The pope knelt down, washing and kissing the young prisoners' feet in the first Holy Thursday ceremony of its kind performed by a pontiff in prison, and the first to include women and Muslims.

“Whoever is the most high up must be at the service of others,” Francis said at the Mass in the Casal del Marmo youth prison, a fortnight after being elected Latin America's first pope.

“I do this with all my heart because it is my duty as a priest, as a bishop. I have to be at your service. I love doing it because this is what the Lord has taught me,” the 76-year-old said.

Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said many of the participants broke down in tears at the ceremony, which was open only to Vatican media. One young man had to be replaced at the last moment because he was too overcome with emotion.

Video footage from the ceremony showed the pope pouring water over the feet — one of them with tattoos — bending down to kiss them and looking each of the 12 prisoners in the eye before moving on.

Lombardi said that while this was the first time a pope had washed women's feet, Francis had performed this type of ceremony in his native Argentina many times before becoming pope including in jails, hospitals and old people's homes.

The Holy Thursday ceremony is usually held in a basilica in the city centre and commemorates the gesture of humility believed to have been performed by Jesus Christ before his death to his 12 disciples at their last meal.

Popes performing the ritual have usually washed the feet of priests.

Catholic traditionalists are likely to be riled by the inclusion of women because all of Jesus' disciples were male — the same justification used to explain why only men can be Catholic priests.

Francis has already broken with several Vatican traditions with his informal style, although he is yet to begin tackling the many problems assailing the Roman Catholic Church including reform of the scandal-ridden Vatican bureaucracy and bank.

Local prison chaplain Gaetano Greco said he hoped the ritual would be “a positive sign in the lives” of the young offenders at the prison, which has around 50 inmates aged between 14 and 21.

Earlier on Thursday, the pontiff told Catholic priests at a Mass in St. Peter's Basilica to stop their “soul-searching” and “introspection.”

“We need to go out ... to the outskirts where there is suffering, bloodshed, blindness that longs for sight and prisoners in thrall to many evil masters,” he said.

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Italian politicians in new talks after Bersani fails to form government

AFP and Reuters
March 30, 2013, 12:17 am TWN

President Giorgio Napolitano met first with Silvio Berlusconi and his center-right coalition.

“In the name of rationality and in the interest of the country we must find a way to govern together as a coalition,” former premier Berlusconi said after the talks.

“We believe an agreement can be found,” the billionaire tycoon said, adding that he would back a coalition made up of the left, right and center.

Bersani's center-left coalition secured the most votes in the February 24-25 elections, winning a majority in the lower house of parliament but not in the upper house — with Berlusconi's center-right a very close second.

After six days of intense and often bitter consultations with rival

parties, Bersani reported to President Giorgio Napolitano that he had failed to

gather the parliamentary backing needed to rule.

“My work in these days has not led to a positive result,” Bersani said after talks with Napolitano.

Bersani has ruled out a coalition government with his arch-rival Berlusconi, a scandal-tainted 76-year-old billionaire tycoon who has served as prime minister three times in a tumultuous political career spanning two decades.

Berlusconi insisted on Friday the only way out of Italy's political deadlock was for his center-left rivals to accept acoalition deal that would give him a share in power. He said there was “no other solution” than a coalition and he ruled out backing a technocrat government like the one led by outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti, whom he blames for pushing Italy into recession.

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