Pope Says “we are brothers and kissed the feet of Refugees as a guesture to brotherhood.”
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Pope Francis condemned the attack in Brussels and Said about those behind such violence :” There are manufacturers, arms dealers who want blood ,
not peace ; they want the war , not fraternity, ”
the pope said.
“You , we , all of us together , of different
religions, different cultures , but children of the
same Father , brothers — and there , those poor
people, who buy weapons to wreck fraternity , ”
Francis said Thursday . ” Today , at this time ,
when I do the same act of Jesus washing the
feet of twelve of you , let us all make a gesture
of brotherhood , and let us all say : ‘ We are
different , we are different , we have different
cultures and religions , but we are brothers and
we want to live in peace . ‘”
“Migrants are our brothers and sisters in search
of a better life, far away from poverty, hunger ,
exploitation and the unjust distribution of the
planet’s resources which are meant to be
equitably shared by all
Pope Francis washed and kissed the feet of Muslim ,
Orthodox , Hindu and Catholic refugees in a moving
ceremony during Holy Thursday Mass at a refugee centre
on the outskirts of Rome as reported by Luigi Navarro & Nicole Winfield, The Associated Press
Thursday, Mar. 24, 2016.
They were refugees from Mali , Eritrea, Syria and
Pakistan. They were Muslim , Hindu , Catholic
and Coptic Christians . And one by one , Pope
Francis knelt down before these migrants on
Holy Thursday and washed their feet .
The ritual , performed in a center for asylum
seekers outside of Rome , comes amid anti-
immigrant sentiment in Europe and in the wake
of a terrorist attack in Brussels , for which the
Islamic State has claimed responsibility.
All of us together , Muslims , Hindus , Catholics ,
Copts , Evangelical [ Protestants ] brothers and
sisters — children of the same God — we want
to live in peace , integrated , ” Francis said during
his homily .
The foot – washing ritual became a part of Holy
Thursday Mass in the 1950 s . Jesus washed the
feet of his 12 apostles at the Last Supper . The
symbolic act also imitates Jesus’ s gesture of
servitude .
A number of the migrants whose feet were
washed by the pope had tears streaming down
their faces.
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