Pope Francis visited a fortress prison holding mafia turncoats on Thursday and again included a Muslim and women in a traditional Holy Week foot-washing ritual that previous popes had limited to Catholic men. Francis said a Mass for the 70 inmates of the prison, a 16th century fortress at Paliano 75 kilometres south of Rome. During the service, he bent to wash and kiss the right foot of 12 inmates, commemorating Jesus' gesture of humility towards his 12 apostles on the night before he died. The Vatican said the 12 included three women and a Muslim man who has decided to convert to Catholicism and is due to be baptised in June. The 12 included 10 Italians, an Albanian and a prisoner from the pope's native Argentina who had written to him.

Source: CBC News April 14, 2017 11:03 UTC