Holes in Papal Calendar: Next "Spectacular" Foot Washing on Maundy Thursday

Humble Foot Washing With Large Media Contingent: Cardinal
Jorge Mario Bergoglio 2008 in Buenos Aires

(Rome) The Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Pope published the calendar of the celebrations of the Pope to the Second Sunday after Easter. For the day of the Paschal Triduum all celebrations of the Chrism Mass in St. Peter's Basilica in the morning of Holy Thursday until the Apostolic Blessing Urbi et Orbi  scheduled on Easter Sunday at 12 noon clock. Not mentioned is the Mass of the Lord's Supper on the evening of Holy Thursday, where the Paschal Triduum begins liturgically. The calendar was published in the Wednesday edition of L'Osservatore Roman (see picture below).

Vaticanists Speculate About "Spectacular" Washing of the Feet 2015

Bets are being made by  Vaticanists, about who "spectacular" would   Pope Francis wash  in this year's feet washing.

Liturgical Calendar of the Pope in the Osservatore Romano on 01/28/2015

The exhibition on the evening of Holy Thursday is constitutive of meaning for the Catholic Church and its content is heavy with meaning. It is thought the washing of the feet, which the Lord  undertook for the apostles.  is a sign that the apostolic succession must always be a humble service. To express this, popes washed  cardinals' and bishops' feet as it had been directly relegated.

But this is only one element. That same evening, is the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and Which is so inextricably linked, the establishment of the ministerial priesthood through Jesus Christ. This double appointment is the center of the Maundy Thursday Liturgy and is closely bound up with the consecrated church  as a sacred space. This requires that the Holy Mass of the Lord's Supper is celebrated by the pastors in their episcopal church with the faithful people.  In 2014 an initiative was launched by the Catholic media to the bishops not to leave their cathedrals on this evening to celebrate elsewhere.

This initiative had a reason and at the same time had to fall into the void because of this reason, as it was the Pope himself, who, left the Lateran Basilica, his Episcopal Church. Some media-savvy bishops announced that they want to follow the papal "model".

Axis Shift Away from the Holy Eucharist Towards the Washing of the Feet

Jesus washed the feet not just anyone, but the apostles

In 2013 the Pope visited a juvenile prison in Rome. He celebrated there with the exclusion of the faithful people in a multi-purpose hall and washed the feet of young prisoners, including girls and Muslims. It looked like a humanly sympathetic, but highly controversial liturgical gesture. It is still unclear whether the Pope indiscriminately gave Holy Communion as well. The Holy See Press Office did not take a position.

In 2014 Pope Francis repeated "his" way and celebrated the Missa Lord's Supper in a sheltered facility in Rome.  He washed the feet of the disabled. Again, in the absence of the faithful people, but not to the public. The media reported eagerly over the papal trip, while the Episcopal Church of Rome, the Lateran Basilica, was orphaned for the second year. This solidified Francis in a shift in  axis of perception away from the Holy Eucharist towards the washing of the feet, which was also subject to reinterpretation. It also raises the question of the Eucharistic understanding.

Pontifical Activism

The Last Supper

The Vatican media adapted themselves willingly to the papal activism and reported in 2014 in advance, the Pope will wash the feet of the disabled of "different beliefs, ethnicity and age'.

The gap in today by L'Osservatore Romano's published calendar of papal celebrations suggests that Pope Francis is in search of an exclusive  Mass of the Lord's Supper, but heavily publicized context for the humble washing of feet.  Among the Vaticanistas there are already are some highly quotable ideas, because  the Vatican secrecy is also quite irritating.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: AciPrensa / Osservatore Romano / Pagina Catolica