Parish of São Romão de Neiva / Facebook
And the priest’s idea was not to create controversy. It was to reinforce that people from other countries are welcome in São Romão de Neiva.
Who goes to the Christmas Eve celebration? Greater Thursday, know that the foot wash enter non-ritual.
Foot washing is a way of remembering, and almost repeating, Jesus’ gesture during the last supper: a role as a servant. Serve others – something that only happened among servants.
An example of humility and service, Jesus called on his disciples to follow this example. With the idea “I, the Lord, am washing your feet – do the same to others.”
It is “loving and caring for our fellow human beings as God wants”, the bishop of Santarém, D. José Traquina.
Last night, in the Papal Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran, Pope Leo
This was while the Pope was washing the feet of 12 priests in the middle of the celebration.
Also on the night of Maundy Thursday, but in São Romão de Neiva (Viana do Castelo), the Father Renato Oliveira washed the feet of 12 immigrants. All the people involved in the foot washing are foreigners: Indonesia, France, Brazil and Angola.
Create controversy? No. The idea is different: “We can’t turn away to those who arrive in our land. More than half of this group of immigrants are workers in our industrial zone and, in truth, the objective of this gesture was not to create controversy.”
“It was just a matter of remembering what Pope Francis so often remembered, that we are all church, that we are all brothers. Immigrants are welcome and welcomed” – and it was also for “awakening consciences” in São Romão de Neiva, commented the priest, in .
In a place with just over a thousand people, hundreds of immigrants are already working; some live there. “It also challenges us as a community to think about what response we can give to these people. We cannot ignore this phenomenon“.
Foot washing, continued Father Renato Oliveira, is “one of the strongest gestures in the church’s liturgy. It speaks for itself.”
