NAIJA HOTTEST GIST AND GOSSIP +LOADS OF FUN: Pope Francis’ Holy Thursday Foot Washing Includes Muslim, Woman (PHOTOS)

Pope Francis’ annual Maundy Thursday foot washing took place at the Don Gnocchi Center in Rome, where he included a woman and a Muslim in the the Holy Week ritual, just as he did last year.

The 12 who will have feet washed by #PopeFrancis include 9 Italians, 1 Muslim from Libya, young man from Cape Verde, Ethiopian woman

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ROME (AP) – Pope Francis washed the feet of 12 elderly and disabled people Thursday – women and non-Catholics among them – in a pre-Easter ritual designed to show his willingness to serve others like a “slave.”

Francis’ decision in 2013 to perform the Holy Thursday ritual on women and Muslim inmates at a juvenile detention center helped define his rule-breaking papacy just two weeks after his election. It riled traditionalist Catholics, who pointed to the Vatican’s own regulations that the ritual be performed only on men since Jesus’ 12 apostles were men.

But as archbishop of Buenos Aires, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio frequently performed the ritual on women – a practice that he seems intent on keeping up now that he is pope.

The 2014 edition brought Francis to a center for the elderly and disabled in Rome. Francis kneeled down, washed, dried and kissed the feet of a dozen people, some in wheelchairs, some with grossly swollen and disfigur ed feet.

The Vatican didn’t release the exact breakdown of their religious backgrounds, but said they came from various religious confessions. Italian news reports said one was a Libyan Muslim.

Francis told the faithful that he was performing the ritual to remind himself how to serve others, as Jesus did when he washed the feet of his apostles.

“Jesus made a gesture, a job, the service of a slave, a servant,” he said. “And he leaves this inheritance to us: We need to be servants to one another.”

Francis began Holy Thursday by presiding over Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica celebrating the priesthood, the start of a busy four days of Holy Week commemorations and preparations for next week’s canonization of Popes John Paul II and John XXIII.

During his morning homily Thursday, Francis urged his priests to exhibit joy, though he admitted that he too had suffered “moments of listlessness and boredom which at times overcome us in our priestly life.”

Pope Francis (L) kisses the foot of a man as he performs the traditional Washing of the feet during a visit at a center for disabled people as part of Holy Thursday (Maundy Thursday) as part of the Holy Week on April 17, 2014 in Rome. AFP PHOTO / ALBERTO PIZZOLI (Photo Credit: ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP/Getty Images)

Pope Francis (C) performs the traditional Washing of the feet during a visit at a center for disabled people as part of Holy Thursday (Maundy Thursday) as part of the Holy Week on April 17, 2014 in Rome. (Photo Credit: ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP/Getty Images)

Pope Francis (L) kisses the foot of a person as he performs the traditional Washing of the feet during a visit at a center for disabled people as part of Holy Thursday (Maundy Thursday) as part of the Holy Week on April 17, 2014 in Rome. (Photo Credit: ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP/Getty Images)