Cardinal Sarah: Priests Don’t Have to Wash Women’s Feet on Holy Thursday
Clarification comes after priests voice concerns about recent liturgical innovation
Cardinal Sarah: “…every bishop or priest ‘has to decide in accord with his own conscience, and according to the purpose for which the Lord instituted this feast.”
“Bishop Athanasius Schneider, auxiliary bishop of Astana, Kazakhstan, said that according to his conscience, he could not include women in the foot-washing ceremony on Holy Thursday. Bishop Schneider acknowledged that the revised mandatum isn’t binding, saying: ‘Thanks be to God no priest or bishop is obliged to wash publicly the feet of women on Holy Thursday, for there is no binding norm for it, and the foot washing itself is only facultative.’”
God bless the priests who form and follow their consciences.
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What I particularly like about C Sarah is how everything he says or does seems to be oriented toward obeying God, and faithfully executing his job, rather than trying to please Pope Francis personally.