SW News: After a two-year gap, Pope Francis resumed the custom of celebrating the Missa in Coena Domini or Mass of the Lord’s Supper outside the Vatican by presiding over the private celebration in the prison in Civitavecchia lying 60 kilometers west-northwest of Rome on Thursday, April 14. During the Mass, which was also attended by the members of the penitentiary police, the pontiff washed the feet of 12 prisoners.

Italian news portal Etrurianew.It quoted Fr Raffaele Grimaldi, head of the chaplains of the prisons of Italy, as saying, “We are grateful to the Holy Father for having chosen, yet again, an existential periphery, a place of proximity to relaunch a message of closeness and hope to the world.”

The penitentiary can accommodate about 500 inmates and it provides access to chaplains, pastoral workers and volunteers to bring the sacraments and the Gospel to those serving their jail sentences on a daily basis. From the inception of his Petrine Ministry, Pope Francis has celebrated Holy Thursday Mass outside the Vatican in refugee facilities or prisons.

The pontiff began the Maundy Thursday ceremonies by presiding over the Chrism Mass in St Peter’s Basilica which was attended by more than 1,000 priests, bishops, archbishops, cardinals and a good number of lay faithful.
It is after a COVID-induced two-year gap that the ceremonies have returned to their former grandeur. Last year, the pope celebrated the Maundy Thursday Mass with Cardinal Angelo Becciu in his private apartment.