PANAJI
In a decision that would impact churches all over the world, including the Archdiocese of Goa and Daman, Pope Francis has decreed that people chosen for the washing of the feet in the liturgy of Holy Thursday (Maundy Thursday) may be selected from all the People of God, and not only men and boys.
This effectively allows women and girls to be included in the symbolic washing of the feet of 12 persons during the Maundy Thursday services, a practice traditionally reserved for men or boys.
According to the Vatican, the Holy Father had written a letter dated December 20, 2015, which was published on Thursday, to Cardinal Robert Sarah, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, in which he decrees that “from now on, the people chosen for the washing of the feet in the liturgy of Holy Thursday may be selected from all the People of God, and not only men and boys.”
The Pope wrote to the cardinal that he had, for some time, reflected on the “rite of the washing of the feet contained in the Liturgy of the Mass in Coena Domini, with the intention of improving the way in which it is performed so that it might express more fully the meaning of Jesus' gesture in the Cenacle, His giving of Himself unto the end for the salvation of the world, His limitless charity.”
“After careful consideration,” said Pope Francis, “I have decided to make a change to the Roman Missal. I therefore decree that the section according to which those persons chosen for the Washing of the feet must be men or boys, so that from now on the Pastors of the Church may choose the participants in the rite from among all the members of the People of God. I also recommend that an adequate explanation of the rite itself be provided to those who are chosen.”
Accordingly, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments on Thursday published a decree on the aforementioned rite, dated January 6.
In its decree, the congregation stated, “Holy Father Francis has seen fit to change the rule by in the Roman Missal, according to which the chosen men are accompanied by the ministers, which must therefore be modified.”
“Pastors may choose a group of faithful representing the variety and unity of every part of the People of God. This group may consist of men and women, and ideally of the young and the old, healthy and sick, clerics, consecrated persons and lay people.”
This Congregation for Divine Worship and the Disipline of the Sacraments, by means of the faculties granted by the Supreme Pontiff, has introduced this innovation in the liturgical books of the Roman Rite, recalling pastors of their duty to instruct adequately both the chosen faithful and others, so that they may participate in the rite consciously, actively and fruitfully.
