RNS: Pope Francis opens foot-washing rite to women in gesture of inclusion
The reform, announced Thursday (Jan. 21), reflects Francis’ own groundbreaking gesture when, just two weeks after his election in 2013, he washed the feet of young people — including women and a Muslim — at a detention center outside Rome.
The Holy Thursday rite, on the evening before Good Friday, re-enacts Jesus’ washing the feet of his 12 disciples at the Last Supper.
The pope’s act three years ago, like the new change, upset traditionalists who argued that the pope should follow church law to the letter; many priests, especially in U.S. parishes, have often washed the feet of women, though others continue to bar women.
Critics of the change also say the rules were written to require that only men be chosen because the disciples were all men.
The Catholic Church believes the Last Supper marks the formal institution of the all-male priesthood. So any move to diversify those whose feet are washed by the priest — who is taking the role of Jesus — could raise questions about ordination.
“This inevitably makes the all-male priesthood itself harder to understand,” said Joseph Shaw, head of the Latin Mass Society, which supports the older rites. Shaw added that the pope’s move “reinforces the trend which has seen priests increasingly surrounded by women during Mass.”
Advocates of greater roles for women in the church, on the other hand, welcomed the change.
“This is great news, a wonderful step forward,” Erin Hanna, co-director of the U.S.-based Women’s Ordination Conference, told Reuters. “This means that change is possible, doors seem to be opening in the Vatican.”
Read the full story here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/religion/pope-francis-opens-foot-washing-rite-to-women-in-gesture-of-inclusion/2016/01/21/7bc13fba-c080-11e5-98c8-7fab78677d51_story.html