Pope Francis on Thursday washed and kissed the feet of a former Miss Italy contestant who was jailed after stealing her wealthy friends’ credit cards.
In what has become an annual Maundy Thursday tradition, the Jesuit Pope washed the feet of 12 prisoners – six men and six women – detained at Rome’s Rebibbia prison, including a transsexual.
Model and TV presenter Silvy Lubamba, who is of Congolese origin, was the first ever black contestant in the Miss Italia competition, but was disqualified from the pageant because she had previously posed nude in a photo shoot.
The 42-year-old was sentenced to three years nine months for the repeated fraudulent use of credit cards and ATM cards belonging to friends.
Miss Lubamba was wanted by Italian authorities for some time but they were unable to trace her until she reported some luggage stolen from a car in Milan last July.
They rang her claiming that her baggage had been found and she was arrested when she came to the police station.
On Thursday she was tearful as Francis knelt to pour water over her feet before drying them with a cloth, and planting a kiss on one foot.
Wearing blue jeans and a white shirt, she later smiled at the 78-year-old Argentinian pontiff.
The Pope also washed the feet of a baby whose mother is incarcerated in the prison and was among the six women he encountered.
The pre-Easter ritual recalls the gesture that Jesus performed on his apostles before his crucifixion.
The Pope asked the inmates, some of whom were reduced to tears, to pray for him, saying that he too needed to be cleansed of “my filth”.
Last year, the pope washed feet at a mass held at a rehabilitation facility for the elderly and those with disabilities.
The year before, Francis performed the ritual at juvenile detention centre, washing the feet of Muslims as well as women in a first of its kind gesture by a Pope.
The jail visit marked the start of a hectic Easter schedule for the Pope, who on Thursday admitted in an address that he sometimes feels “tired”.
On Friday night he will perform the Via Crucis, or Stations of the Cross, procession at the Colosseum.
He will preside over an Easter Vigil on Saturday and then celebrate Mass on Easter Sunday.
Holy Week commemorates Christ’s last week on earth and the events leading up to his resurrection on Easter Sunday.
