Pope Francis kisses and washes feet of young offenders at Rome prison after mass inside St Peter's Basilica begins four days of Easter ceremony in spectacular style

• Pope Francis made remarkable gesture to demonstrate the church's commitment to marginalised in society
• Earlier conducted his first Holy Thursday service as Roman Catholic leader
• Francis' homily was the latest sign of his determination that the Church should be closer to the poor
• He was speaking to 1,600 priests from Rome who attended the Mass
• It kick-starts four days of hectic activities leading up to Easter this Sunday

He has spent much of his first fortnight on the job hobnobbing with world leaders and VIPs.
But yesterday Pope Francis visited a prison to wash and kiss the feet of convicted criminals.
He broke with tradition to hold a major Easter Week service at Casal del Marmo young offenders’ prison in Rome, telling 50 inmates: ‘I’m happy to be with you. Don’t give up hope.’
The foot washing on Maundy Thursday echoes a New Testament passage in which Jesus honours his 12 disciples before his Crucifixion.
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The Pope kisses the feet of one of twelve prisoners during the Holy Thursday ritual 

 

Pope Francis celebrated the ancient rite on Holy Thursday for years as an archbishop and is continuing the tradition in his new office

As archbishop of Buenos Aires, the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio would celebrate the ritual foot-washing in jails, hospitals or hospices - part of his ministry to the poorest and most marginalized of society

Francis has carried out similar ceremonies in Argentinian jails.
In a first for a Pope, he attended to the feet of two woman prisoners. Several of the 12 were also Muslim.
Pope Francis already has officials on the back foot with his lack of regard for protocol. He has insisted he will not live in the lavish Papal apartments. On seeing them, he said: ‘But there is room for 300 people in here.’
At a mass in St Peter’s Basilica yesterday, he told priests: ‘We need to go out . . . to the outskirts where there is suffering, bloodshed, blindness that longs for sight, and prisoners in thrall to many evil masters.’
Those who do not, he said, ‘become merely dealers in antiques and collectibles, instead of pastors, ending up dissatisfied and sad’.

Previous popes would carry out the foot-washing ritual on Holy Thursday in Rome's grand St. John Lateran basilica and the 12 people chosen for the ritual were priests to represent the 12 disciples

Many of them were Gypsies or North African migrants, and the Vatican said the 12 selected for the rite weren't necessarily Catholic.
Because the inmates were mostly minors - the facility houses inmates aged 14-21 - the Vatican and Italian Justice Ministry limited media access inside.
But Vatican Radio carried the Mass live, and Francis told the detainees that Jesus washed the feet of his disciples on the eve of his crucifixion in a gesture of love and service.

'This is a symbol, it is a sign -washing your feet means I am at your service,' Francis told the youngsters. 'Help one another. This is what Jesus teaches us. This is what I do. And I do it with my heart. I do this with my heart because it is my duty, as a priest and bishop I must be at your service.'
Later, the Vatican released a limited video of the ritual, showing Francis washing black feet, white feet, male feet, female feet and even a foot with tattoos.

As archbishop of Buenos Aires, the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio would celebrate the ritual foot-washing in jails, hospitals or hospices - part of his ministry to the poorest and most marginalized of society. It's a message that he is continuing now that he is pope, saying he wants a church 'for the poor.'
Previous popes would carry out the foot-washing ritual on Holy Thursday in Rome's grand St. John Lateran basilica and the 12 people chosen for the ritual were priests to represent the 12 disciples.

That Francis would include women in this re-enactment is symbolically noteworthy given the insistence of some in the church that the ritual be reserved for men only given that Jesus' disciples were all male, and that the Catholic priesthood that evolved from the original 12 disciples is restricted to men.

'The pope's washing the feet of women is hugely significant, because including women in this part of the Holy Thursday Mass has been frowned on - and even banned - in some dioceses,' said the Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and author of "The Jesuit Guide."

'It shows the all-embracing love of Christ, who ministered to all he met: man or woman, slave or free, Jew or Gentile.'
After the Mass, Francis greeted each of the inmates and gave each one an Easter egg.

'Don't lose hope,' he said. 'Understand? With hope you can always go on.'
Italian Justice Minister Paola Severino, who has made easing Italy's woefully overcrowded prisons a priority, attended the Mass.
Earlier today Pope Francis conducted his first Chrism Mass inside St Peter's Basilica.
The mass kick-starts four days of hectic activities leading up to Easter this Sunday. Francis' homily at his first Holy Thursday service as Roman Catholic leader was the latest sign since his election of his determination that the Church should be closer to the poor.

Tradition: Newly-appointed Pope Francis has begun the Christian traditions leading up to Easter during his first holy week as pontiff

Devotion: Pope Francis kisses the Holy Bible, left,  as he leads the Holy Thursday Mass

Thoughtful: Pope Benedict XVI looks deep in prayer during the Mass inside St Peter's Basilica

Important: Pope Francis conducts his first Chrism Mass inside St Peter's Basilica on the morning of Holy Thursday today

During the service, he urged Catholic priests to devote themselves to helping the poor and suffering instead of worrying about careers as Church 'managers'.
'We need to go out, then, in order to experience our own anointing (as priests) ... to the outskirts where there is suffering, bloodshed, blindness that longs for sight, and prisoners in thrall to many evil masters,' he said during the Mass.
The 76-year-old former Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina has inherited a Vatican rocked by a scandal in which documents leaked to the media spoke of alleged corruption in its administration and depicted prelates as fighting among themselves to advance their careers.
At the Mass, Francis said priests should not get bogged down in 'introspection' but step outside of themselves and concentrate on those who need their help.
'Those who do not go out of themselves, instead of being mediators, gradually become intermediaries, managers. We know the difference: the intermediary, the manager ... doesn't put his own skin and his own heart on the line, he never hears a warm, heartfelt word of thanks,' he said.
In the next few weeks, Francis is expected to start making changes in the Curia, the central bureaucracy that was at the heart of the so-called 'Vatileaks' scandal.

Traditional: Pope Francis will today hold a feet-washing mass, which commemorates the last supper, at a youth detention centre

Spectacular: Pope Francis holds up a copy of the book of the gospel , left. The new pope urged Catholic priests to devote themselves to helping the poor and suffering

Memorable: About 1,600 priests from Rome attended the Mass, with many opting to take pictures of the special occasion

Impressive: Priests listen intently during the spectacular Mass

 VIDEO  Pope Francis arriving at prison to wash the feet of Italian prisoners 

Pope Francis arrives at prison in Italy to wash prisoners' feet

The new pope delivered his appeal for priests to live simply and closest to the needy on the day when the Catholic Church commemorates when Jesus founded the priesthood at the Last Supper on the night before he died.
Speaking to about 1,600 priests from Rome who attended the Mass, he said those who did not live in humility close to the people risked becoming 'collectors of antiques or novelties - instead of being shepherds living with 'the smell of the sheep'.
The pope took the name Francis after St. Francis of Assisi, who is associated with austerity and helping the poor. The new pontiff has already set a clear tone for a humbler papacy and Church.
Later today, he will wash and kiss the feet of 12 young inmates at a youth prison on the outskirts of Rome, at a Holy Thursday ceremony commemorating Jesus's gesture of humility towards his apostles on the night before he died.

Thinking of others: Pope Francis used the Mass to deliver an appeal for priests to live simply and closest to the needy 

Humble: Pope Francis holds the censer as he celebrates the Chrism mass

Blessing: The Pope celebrates the Holy Communion during the service

Congregation: Priests are pictured arriving for the Mass

All popes in living memory have held the service either in St. Peter's or the Basilica of St. John in Lateran, which is the pope's cathedral church in his capacity as bishop of Rome.
The four days leading up to Easter are the most hectic in the Church's liturgical calendar.
Tomorrow, Francis will preside at two Good Friday services including the traditional 'Via Crucis' (Way of the Cross) procession around the ancient Colosseum in Rome.
He celebrates an Easter eve service on Saturday night and on Easter Sunday, the most important day in the Church's liturgical calendar, he will deliver his first 'Urbi et Orbi' (to the city and the world) message to a large crowd in St. Peter's Square.

Service: Pope Francis leaves the Mass of the Chrism at the Saint Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City

Ceremony: Pope Francis is pictured leaving after conducting his first Chrism Mass inside St Peter's Basilica on the morning of Holy Thursday

Service: Choirboys watch on during the Mass inside St Peter's Basilica

Pope Francis also made his first bishop appointment, naming the bishop of Santa Rosa, Argentina as his successor as archbishop of Buenos Aires and the top churchman in Argentina. 
Archbishop Mario Poli had been an auxiliary bishop in the Argentine capital in 2002-2008 while the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was archbishop.
The 66-year-old Poli, trained in social work, made news recently when he publicly dressed-down a priest who had posted a Facebook greeting on the birthday of former Argentine dictator Jorge Videla. 
Argentine media say Poli is very much a priest in Francis' vein, less political and more pastoral.