When you read this letter, you will have washed the feet of other kids like [us]. I am writing this letter because you give me hope. I know one day with people like you, us kids won’t be given sentences that will keep us in prison for the rest of our lives. I pray for you. Don’t forget us.”
— From a letter to Pope Francis written by a detainee at a Los Angeles juvenile detention facility who was participating in a foot-washing rite the night before the traditional Holy Thursday ceremony so he could be in solidarity with the pope, who washed the feet of 12 imprisoned young people at a juvenile detention facility in Rome
“Women have had and still have a special role in opening doors to the Lord, in following him and communicating his face, because the eyes of faith always need the simple and profound look of love.”
— Pope Francis, speaking to an estimated 50,000 people in St. Peter’s Square April 3