The Pope and the Girls in Rome

Troubled girls at a detention center for juvenile delinquents. In a world where men and women need healing and boys and girls and young men and women need to know there is hope for their lives and a reason for them to go on and seek any good.

And so the bishop of Rome, as he likes to refer to himself, washes their feet.

Fr. Dwight Longenecker blogs, wisely:

by taking a radical step and washing the feet of poor young prisoners–women as well as men–he not only reminds us of the radical nature of the symbol, but also the unexpected and sometimes upsetting example of the Lord himself–who upset some traditions in order to make a point. Did he break the rubrics? At the end of the day the rubrics are there to serve the gospel–not the gospel to serve the rubrics.

Everybody ought to get ready to be surprised by this pope now and again. He’s going to challenge us. Pray it is always in service of the Gospel. By all indications, that’s his prayer.