Parish priests in England and Wales should not follow the example of
Pope Francis by washing women's feet, according to the liturgy secretary
of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales.During the first Holy Week of his papacy, Pope Francis washed the feet of two women on Maundy Thursday at the Casa del Marmo prison for young offenders in Rome.
Fr Paul Gunter, Secretary of the Department for Christian Life and Worship, told The Tablet that Pope Francis had legitimately dispensed himself from liturgical norms but that his was a unique pastoral context.
In parish churches, Fr Paul said that the washing of the feet is meant to be an imitation of the Last Supper and "intrinsically attached" to the institution of the priesthood.