Liturgical traditionalists are increasingly expressing their dismay with the new Pope. They shutter in horror at online videos of his time as an Archbishop with his Misa de Ninos featuring dialogue with children, clapping and life-sized puppets.
Now, critics are decrying his washing the feet of youth at a retention facility, and among these are young women, one of whom was a Muslim.
A directive from the Congregation for Divine Worship in 1988 specified that “the washing of the feet of chosen men … represents the service and charity of Christ, who came ‘not to be served, but to serve.’” The rule in the West is that only the feet of men can be washed, with an associated sacramental meaning pointing to the priesthood of the apostles.
The current law does allow local bishops to dispense from the law, as is done here in the Archdiocese of Washington, and some are suggesting that the Pope merely acted as the Bishop or Patriarch of Rome and not as the universal shepherd. However, the papacy is not like a hat that one can put on or take off with ease. The Pope is the Roman Rite. The late Pope John Paul II regularly broke the rubric about raising the host over the paten, preferring the chalice instead. Now it is a legitimate option in the Roman Missal. We might not like it, but the Pope has indeed called into question the rubric regarding the washing of the feet. However, as an optional rite, I would not see it as a genuine cause for controversy. Further, while associated with the priesthood, certain Church fathers, like St. Augustine connected the ritual instead to Christian baptism. It may be that this somewhat suppressed tradition is again breaking the surface.
Having said this, what are we to make “theologically” of Pope Francis washing the feet of a Muslim girl? The solution comes with the Pope’s own words, if only we will listen. He says, “This is a symbol, it is a sign. Washing your feet means I am at your service. …Don’t lose hope, understand? With hope you can always go on.” When a boy asked why he had visited them, he simply responded that it was to “help me to be humble, as a bishop should be.” Pope Francis said this visit and the ceremonial gesture emerged “from my heart. Things from the heart don’t have an explanation.”
I suspect the Pope is expressing a theme which emerges immediately from the Scriptures. The one who would lead must be the servant of all. Our Lord did not minister only to Jews but to all who came to him. So too, in these perilous days, must the papacy be a vehicle for peace and charity in a world mad with intolerance and greed.
Liturgical traditionalists often celebrate beautiful liturgies. But dialogue with them is frequently difficult. The issue is deeper than anti-Semitism, but a belligerence with any and all, inside or outside the Church who disagree with them. The most rigid among them desire more than a place of their own in the universal Church; rather, they demand that all others surrender their places to them. This will not happen. Some of the traditionalists like the SSPX will probably not be coming home. The rhetoric will get nastier. The longer they remain juridically distinct, the more Sedevacantism will take hold. The breakaway traditionalists really do not recognize either the priesthood or the Mass of what they call the Novus Ordo. Indeed, the use the term “Novus Ordo” as if it were a derogatory slur. If they did not like Pope Benedict XVI then the proverbial writing was certainly on the wall with Pope Francis. The washing of the feet on Holy Thursday has renewed cries of modernism on one side and the defense of his humility and simplicity on the other.
Here are a few of the messages I have received:
“If the SSPX are upset then it is entirely their fault. They could have regularized and bishops and maybe even an additional Cardinal or two from their alliance could have been added to the mix. Standing outside they forfeited their voice. Pope Benedict tried to help them, now they deserve what they get!”
“The SSPX can complain but refused to be part of the solution to liturgical abuses and excess. Maybe this is the Holy Spirit’s way of pushing their noses into what they see as a mess.”
“Did Jesus wash the feet of Catholics or Jews?”
“Who does this guy think he is? Oh wait, he is the Pope. Okay, I guess he can do as he pleases.”
“Some of you talk as if the SSPX were really part of the Church. They go through the motions, but have no standing and no say. They do not represent a legitimate option. Pope Francis is the Pope. Get used to it!”
“Could it be that this Pope Francis is what God wants and that we traditionalists have been wrong from the start?”
“Do you think the Pope was set up and someone slipped this Mohammedan gal into the mix without him knowing?”
“This Pope has taken the name of a deacon, not a priest. He has embraced the mendicant Francis. He is on the record that the Church should be reduced to poverty. Priests get ready to see your rectories exchanged for roach-filled apartments and bus tickets for the cars you once owned. Here is a man who takes seriously the charge of Jesus to the rich man!”
“One of the boys at the feet washing had a foot covered in gang-related and possibly obscene tattoos. I can see that photograph being splashed around the world. Here is the Vicar of Christ, bowing down and kissing the foot of a vulgar criminal. This makes me so mad. There hasn’t been something as scandalous as this since Jesus allowed his feet to be washed and dried in a prostitute’s hair!”
“This matter of the new Pope has merely unveiled the unyielding disobedience and disrespect that has been hiding behind traditionalist intransigence all along!”
Blogger Priest 
How can a pope who flaunts the rules possibly fix things? If the laws of the Church are capricious then there is no way he can make demands. He has undermined himself!
Have we learned nothing during the last half century?
The end times and the great apostasy are here!
This is something that would have shocked Popes John XXIII and Paul VI!
Indults and personal prelatures are entirely up to the whims of popes. What was seen as a pastoral solution may soon prove a real nightmare!
“…all so that he might reward criminal juvenile delinquents!”-Allen
“For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.”-Our Lord, Jesus Christ.
I’m no theologian, but I thought that as Christ stands to His Bride, The Church, so the Priesthood as His representative on Earth, most particularly the Pope, stands to the Church also, so surely if Our Lord can serve members of His Church, so can the Pope, without it being some big statement on ‘extending’ the priesthood. To me, it shows manliness, as well as humility, and is a reinforcer of a male priesthood, and hopefully will send a message of manly love of service to priests everywhere (and to husbands, also, in relation to their wives).
Father I’ve read the first and last posts, but this is what I see missing in the eyes of most people and the hierarchy of the Church. In Act 6 I believe is the message of what Christ wanted his church to do, as well as, his disciples and or Apostles basically take care of his people. Pope Francis In my opinion is doing just that. He is coming off the throne and showing his human side and displaying the humility to serve people of the world. Some thing I have a hard time doing. He’s caring on as Pope John Paul did. Yea Pope Francis!
The Pope’s friend and local Anglican bishop back in Argentina claimed that the Archbishop saw no reason for a parallel Catholic structure to serve conservative Episcopalians. I guess that says a lot for what we can soon expect.
This will sure backfire if militant Muslims retaliate against this girl and her family for allowing her to be touched by the Pope and to take part in a Catholic Mass and ritual.
Did you see that he actually kissed the feet of women, sick and obscene?
You cannot pray with the pagans. This is apostasy!
The SSPX is the only safe refuge in this storm. It is now all that is left of the Church.
This is proof that the SSPX was right to say no to Pope Benedict XVI!
If the foot washing is associated with the priesthood, is he opening the door to women priests?
Did he bless the Islamic infidels or give them the Eucharistic Jesus? Was the Muslim girl made into a disciple or priest of his new church? Did he adapt the antiphons and prayers?
Father Joe ~~ Thank you for your commentary on the humility of Pope Francis. From the previously posted comments, I think some of your readers missed your last paragraph: “I suspect the Pope is expressing a theme which emerges immediately from the Scriptures. The one who would lead must be the servant of all. Our Lord did not minister only to Jews but to all who came to him. So too, in these perilous days, must the papacy be a vehicle for peace and charity in a world mad with intolerance and greed.”
I, for one, pray that I can show the same humility toward my fellow humans as Pope Francis. God bless him!
As they come in, I will probably allow some of the nastiness so as to hear views. However, please note that I reserve the right to edit and to censor any vulgarity. Some critics make the case against themselves with their own intransigence and prejudice.
We know who the real Judas is this Holy Week!
This proves that the Vatican II ‘church’ is not the Catholic Church established by Jesus Christ. He has relativized a sacred rite and stripped away its meaning. He entered this Muslim girl into the liturgy and prayer of the Church, a blatant act of religious indifferentism!
He scandalously reduces a sacred public liturgy to a personal effort at humility and charity to young criminals!
It is bad enough that he washed the feet of females, but touching a pagan is way too much!
The washing of the feet in the Gospel of John serves as an ordination ceremony. Does this mean that he will reopen the women’s ordination debate?
What can we expect next year? Maybe this video is a hint:
His act destroys the link between the apostles and the priesthood, all so that he might reward criminal juvenile delinquents!